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Revisiting the Triumpf

pete

Brassica Oleracea
Staff member
Administrator
Keilwerth-made Triumpf. Yes, it could be a really nice-looking Keilwerth copy, but I doubt it. Compare the engraving to this Super DES horn.

According to the original eBay ad for the Triumpf, the engraving is called "Die Frauengestalt" by a "Herr Reichelt." I tried to Google that, but I get too many results on that in German ....

Sorry I didn't reply to you when you wrote about this horn last month. Oh wait, it was this month... Oh wait... It was only 4 days ago... I suddenly don't feel so bad... I thought I lost a month out of my life here...

I tried to find some reference to "Herr Reichelt" & engraving, and came up with nothing. (BTW, "Frauengestalt" just means female character.) Then I tried the Google.de and came up with this thread on the German saxophone forum: (last post in thread)

So the upshot of this is that the Fritz Reichel (note the spelling, eBay seller got it wrong) apparently was the "Jason Du Mars" of the Musikwinkel, and engraved for all the manufacturers in the region. Thus his engraving can be found on any of the horns produced in the region. This female figure with the globe was supposedly what made him famous and was known during his time as: the female figure.

Obviously one would have to do a bit more research to confirm all this, but this will give you a place to start.
I wanted to revisit this one that I posted to the "Prettiest Sax of the Moment" page. I uploaded it today.

I think that this was a Max Keilwerth-made horn for Oscar Adler. Three main reasons: no "Pure Tone" or "Best in the World" stamps, Max worked for Adler, and Adler had a model named "Triumph." What do y'all think? I really have no problem saying this horn was made for FX Huller, based on the engraving. I do think the horn has features that are too new to be Julius Keilwerth, though.
 
I'm not so sure about the Triumph being an MK horn... I recently came across something--don't ask me where, or where I might have saved it--that talked about Triumph saxophones.

BTW, the Triumph that Adler made, were nothing like this Triumph. They were OA's top model and had the following features:

  • With mother of pearl rollers.
  • Micro tuner on alto & tenor models.
  • Keyed from low Bb to high G.
  • Split or right bell keys available.
  • As of the 1930s, only available in alto, C mel, and tenor versions.
** Note point 3**

Don't forget, the other thing that Oscar Adler horns of that period had were duplicate keys for a total of 11 extra keys (counting the high G). The Triumphs looked like this for the most part.

To sum up then: The Triumph in question may or may not have been made by Max Keilwerth--my money is on not--but it certainly was not one of the Oscar Adler Triumph models.
 
Yup. Love the keywork on the Adler Triumph.

Sorry; I didn't mean to suggest that this was an Adler-made horn or a copy/stencil/whatever of the Adler Triumph. I just think that the keywork looks very Keilwerth and "Triumpf" is German for "Triumph," n'est-ce pas?
 
Yes, Triumpf = triumph.

There are lots of horns that looked Keilwerthesque from the time... Yet not necessarily made by either JK or MK.

I do think the horn has features that are too new to be Julius Keilwerth, though.

When do you think this Triumpf is from? JK had all these features on their horns prior to 1938 already. (By 1938 they had progressed beyond wire key guards already.)

That aside, this Triumpf is only one of two that I can recall seeing with the "Frauengestalt" by Reichelt. The others I have a lot of beautiful engraving, but no female form.

Oh, one last thing I should mention about this Triumpf: It bears a striking resemblance to a Götz alto that I have in my gallery. I did label it a JK stencil based on its features, although it is lacking a JK logo. However, now I think I need to reconsider its possible origins....

LATE BREAKING NEWS....

I figured out where I found the Triumpf info... It was on the fxhuller.com site. .... Yup, Triumpf was ordered from FX Hüller, and as a matter of fact, Jos even has the exact same horn we're discussing in your original post Pete, listed on his stencil page....

Besides what Jos has on his website, I remember seeing catalogue pages somewhere. They maybe pages he has on his site, or pages that I have in my files... But something about Triumpf and old catalogues is niggling my brain....


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