TubaTinker wrote:Doc wrote:Was Mirafone even around in the '30's?
Good question! HEEEYYY RICK DENNY!
Mr. Gilchrest already answered it. Miraphone is a cooperative venture put together by a group of craftsmen immigrating (read: fleeing communism) from the Graslitz area after WWII.
The oldest Miraphone serial numbers listed on Lars Kirmser's site is dated 1960, and that was number 14xx.
I'm concerned that the instrument in the ad (which I have gone back and read more carefully) doesn't have a serial number. Many of the German makers didn't number their instruments, but Miraphone didn't seem to be one of them.
Everything about the instrument to me looks like a standard 186 with the older bell diameter. I seem to recall seeing pictures of early-60's or late-50's Miraphones that were more substantially different than the traditional 186. This instrument might have had its bell replaced, in which case it would not have a serial number. The serial number on my Miraphone is hand-inscribed on the bell right under the Miraphone logo. If the bell is a replacement, it was done some time ago, because it looks as though this bell has been rolled out at least once, even assuming that the green corrosion is just surface corrosion and not a crack or tear that was poorly repaired.
The statement that the instrument dates from around the 1930's is completely wrong. I hadn't seen it when I glanced at the ad before. My guess is that it is much newer: late 60's or more probably 70's. Miraphone's peak production was 1971, from looking at the serial number list. I've seen such incorrect statements in ads by this seller in the past, and have never been able to get an answer when I questioned them on it.
Rick "whose mid-70's Miraphone is similar but without any dents" Denney