Buffet Crampon is one of the earliest companies to legally produce the saxophones (by obtaining a license from Adolphe Sax). It was probably the only French manufacturer at that time that didn’t file any law suite against Adolphe Sax. The saxophones they produced at that time (before 1866) were virtually identical to the original & all horns would have the “AS Licensee” stamp on them. This made Buffet Crampon the most successful saxophone-producing company for a long time until Selmer purchased Adolphe Sax’s company in 1928. This horn is a model 3.

             This horn might have been a prototype since the patent for modern side C only came out in 1886 by Association Generale des Ouviers Tacteurs d’instruments de Musique. A different system of side C patented by Adolphe Sax did come out in 1881 but is not the modern side C.

The bis-Bb key is also the earliest. It doesn’t have the little finger-button on it yet & the only way to use this is by pressing any right-hand keys. Association Generale patented the bis-Bb in 1887 so this horn predates this patent by 5 years! The other early Buffet horn in the collection from 2 years later (1884) still use the model 2 mechanism however Buffet could have made 2 distinct models with different systems at the same time.