A curious&mysterious saxophone-An inquiry for the handcraft "Alexandre" professional saxophone by Borgani[No. 3888]

[Snow Red]

"A Handcraft(by Borgani) Vintage Italian "Alexandre" Professional Alto Saxophone[No. 3888]"
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This genuine Italian saxophone is now in South-Korea. I've stored it since when I was young. I regard it as mysterious musical instrument. However, I've identified that this product has ever never been distributed in my country. Also lots of expert related to wind instrument in Korea don't recognize it well. But one guy said to me that it is very rare saxophone. I heard from him that when he was in Italy as an artist, he identified Alexandre saxophone had been used by a eminent Italian artist. So far, this is just magical episode for me.

• Serial No : 3888
• Use Purpose : Professional
• The brand name of "Alexandre" which is labelled on this saxophone is also Selmer’s brother’s name. The origin and source of this model was guessed that this was made by Borgani’s hand" in Italy from 1950's to 1960's.
• Through Western Europe, plenty of saxophone enthusiasts are curious of some connective stories "Alexandre" and other top makers of saxophone.
• By now, the value and meaning of this saxophone is mystery itself and the intriguing antique&vintage instrument.

I sincerely look forward to identify a precious story and information. Please, share any knowledge about "Alexandre"!!!

@Snow, Red
South-Korea
hjh_0729@icloud.com

 

[Snow Red]

Anyone who needs more specific pictures of this saxophone in order to identify it precisely can require more pictures to me.

 

[pete]

I'll try to be gentle.

No, it's not a "rare" saxophone. It might be rare in your area in the sense of "not common," but not in the sense of "it's a masterpiece and there are only a few of them."

Yes, the horn was probably made by Borgani. Here's one thread on Sax-on-the-Web that says so.

In the 1960s and 1970s (I somewhat doubt 1950s for this horn, but I don't have a serial number chart), Italian and Czech saxophones were regarded much like Chinese saxophones are now: they're cheap. Some are OK. You'd have to search really hard for someone to call any of them pro-level.

Several Italian companies made horns for other brand-name companies. For example, Borgani made some horns for Selmer London. Santoni made some of the Evette-Schaeffer horns for Buffet.

Your horn looks like it's missing about 95% of its lacquer finish or you just have really bad lighting in your pictures. You might have other damage. I can't really tell. That might easily make the repair bill much higher than the value of your horn.

I almost forgot. If you have a mouthpiece, it may be worth more than the horn. I'm not a mouthpiece "guy," but if you want to post some pictures of it, please do. We do have folks here that are more into mouthpieces than me.

Summarizing, you've got an OK quality alto from the 1960s or 1970s that's worth a couple hundred dollars, at most. If you can find the person who said it's a "very rare instrument," try to sell it to him.

If you like the horn, that's fantastic. Enjoy playing it.