Those photos show it off very well. What I see when I've followed the auctions on these is that the Meyers, Artists, and other stencil names generally finish at 1/3 less to 1/2 less than one marked Amati;- and it is often the same clarinet and in this case, this Artist looks like it has the solid nickel silver keys. I think the stencils of this classic are good opportunities. Some are plated and the plating is generally also very good with nickel silver under it. I don't know which is earlier but I am guessing that the plating could be later?

80 rows  Assumption: in 1939 Kohlert was retooled for the war effort. I have pics of.

The way they have designed the keys is both elegant, modern, and distinctive. Once you see one of these and study it closely, it's impossible to miss. It's as recognizable as the Kohlert Boehm clarinets that pre-dated it. Angelcare ac 300. So you could get this one new: or check that place where the vintage or antiques are and you will find two available now, well under $100, both with vintage hard rubber mouthpieces. I'm the cheapskate so I might check out a vintage one soon. Nice camera too.

Is that an SX-70 type? The French may have their own 'Champions', I think.

You see, these are not protected trademark names. Any maker can use the names 'Artist', 'Prestige', 'Champion', 'La Couture (which is in France, not Bohemia)', or even 'Amati', which was a the master violin maker that apprenticed Stradivari in Italy. When it comes to identifying clarinets with names other than the makers' names (stencils), the only things we can depend on are direct comparisons of the physical artifacts and the country of origin export marks, and other small details like the locations and fonts used in the serial numbers.

A critical part of the exercise is finding a Champion (well known that there are many other artists or Artistes, like the PM Artist that we'd never confuse with an Amati) that is not an Amati while looking for the one that is an Amati. This has been bugging me for many days now. It's very rare to find a metal unibody with the C# on the front, except for the very high class 3-piece metal with articulated mechanism. So I did a very unscientific test by visually comparing a Normandy 4 with a Boston Wonder Principia.

After lining up the tone holes relatively evenly between the two, I found that the metal clarinet had the C# significantly lower on the body than the Normandy 4. Jqgrid export to excel demo javascript download. Although I don't have a Bb with the articulation (I only have FB A clarinets.) I am certain that one would find the C# in the metal clarinet to be in line with the articulated ones. I believe the C# was left on the side of the instrument because the front was reserved for a lyre attachment.