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Recognizing company from a serial number

I asked on another forum but maybe worth asking here too. Can anyone recognize the company of the clarinet from this infromation.

It's most likely from about 30 years but maybe not. Made in France, has that engraved on the bottom of the upper joint. Made of wood. The serial number has a a drawing of a star at the beginning followed by H266xx. The serial number is engraved at the top of the upper joint and the bottom of the lower joint. All engravings are at the back of the clarinet. The star might be a clue? It sounds like a pretty good clarinet with very decent tone.

Thanks
 
doesn't the star designate a replacement joint ? or is it with both serial numbers ?

on another boring note ... a star i had researched (specifically french) brands based on a 5 point hollow star ... but we're talking much older Albert clarinets. fyi .. it was Rudolph WurLitzer BUT also could have been a couple others I found. but then we know R Wurlitzer imported anything he could get his hands on ... but this one was a french model (designated by the keywork design). at that point me and the specific other person researching lose interest because I then had the instrument in hand and was able to determine it was a Wurlitzer from the faint emblem that I, and not the customer, could see.

wild guess here .. how about a Malerne
of course there are also so many small makers back then it could be about anything though with the serial number I would think it was from a larger producer.
 
The star is a regular star, five pointy ends, I think one pointing up if I remember. It is on both joints right on the left of the serial number. The owner remembered a logo... but I really looked hard under several different types of light and there wasn't even a fading memory of a logo.
 
FWIW, a lot of saxophones in the 1930's and earlier that were made in France had stars near/on their logos. The practice seems to have gone away by the late 1930's/early 1940's.

Some serial number sequences do seem to be more-or-less unique for the manufacturer, but I've seen a lot of clarinet manufacturers that use an H in their serial numberage.
 
FWIW, a lot of saxophones in the 1930's and earlier that were made in France had stars near/on their logos. The practice seems to have gone away by the late 1930's/early 1940's.

Some serial number sequences do seem to be more-or-less unique for the manufacturer, but I've seen a lot of clarinet manufacturers that use an H in their serial numberage.

That's the basic problem. In the earlier days of french manufacturing alot of makers added a star. Some were hollow stars, some had the lines inside the star going to the other edges, even english makers used stars. Even Noblet (before being given to leblanc) had a star as part of their emblem.

but that practice stopped a long time ago.

But i don't ever recall a star being next to the serial number especially for a clarinet about 30 yrs old. Plus there were so many independent makers it could be fruitless.

It all comes back down to the keywork and other identifiers ... thus the reason alot of us ask for pictures.
 
That's the basic problem. In the earlier days of french manufacturing alot of makers added a star. Some were hollow stars, some had the lines inside the star going to the other edges, even english makers used stars. Even Noblet (before being given to leblanc) had a star as part of their emblem.

but that practice stopped a long time ago.
Or 5-pointed vs. 6-pointed. SML had both, at different times.
 
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