Skip to main content
Rory Gallagher: A Selmer Mark VI Alto Saxophone, 1959, sax approx 27in (68.5cm) long image 1
Rory Gallagher: A Selmer Mark VI Alto Saxophone, 1959, sax approx 27in (68.5cm) long image 2
Lot 9

Rory Gallagher: A Selmer Mark VI Alto Saxophone, 1959,
sax approx 27in (68.5cm) long

17 October 2024, 15:00 BST
London, New Bond Street

Sold for £10,240 inc. premium

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

How to sell

Looking for a similar item?

Our Popular Culture specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.

Find your local specialist

Ask about this lot

Rory Gallagher: A Selmer Mark VI Alto Saxophone,

The brass instrument with serial no. 82324, in plush-lined hardshell case with reeds and accessories, together with the original sales receipt from Lewington Limited, 144 Shaftesbury Avenue, London W.C.2 dated September 10th 1969, a Guarantee Card for an SML Sax dated September 27th 1968 and a Guarantee Card for the Selmer Sax no. 82324 dated September 10th 1969,

Footnotes

Rory's mastery of the saxophone was first heard on Taste's eponymous debut album and was particularly highlighted on their second, On The Boards, in the track 'It's Happened Before, It'll Happen Again' and the title track.

In an interview with a New York magazine, Rory said of his sax playing: "I still play bits and pieces. On Tattoo it's on 'A Million Miles Away'. There's a little bit on 'Hands Off' and 'Seventh Son Of The Seventh Son'. When I started playing it, I was going to play actively on stage; two guitar to one sax number, about that, but my interest in sax ebbed a bit. I was going through a jazz phase, very fanatical, back in 69-70. I'm going to resurrect it one of these days. Playing sax with just bass and drums; it's alright if you're Ornette Coleman, but when you've got to take your guitar off and pick up a sax..."
- Rory Gallagher, Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press, 1976.

Live Performance
Taste, Beat Club, 'It's Happened Before, It'll Happen Again', 3rd February 1970, www.tiktok.com/@rorygallagherofficial/video/7195977030876302634

Literature
Dave Schulps and Ira Robbins, 'The Story On Rory', Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press, April/May 1976, www.roryon.com/tp.html.

Additional information

Bid now on these items