Notes on the Robert Martin:

I'm extraordinarily happy that you sent me more pictures of this beautiful horn, especially of the neck.  However, rather than helping matters, it confuses things more -- but helps me in a different respect.

Let's take a closer look:
* The horn has original red pads without resonators.  As far as I'm aware, in my research of about a dozen or so French manufacturers, there's only one company that ever used red pads: Dolnet.
* The horn has needle springs.  This is a hallmark of many horns, but it allows me to comfortably place the horn in the 1950's.
* The G#/C#/B/Bb cluster is of a design that's found on the Buffet saxophones.  True, the Selmer has a similar design, but the Super Balanced Action, which I would assume to be in the same era as this horn, has a patented G# cluster.
* The microtuner neck is a definite nice touch.  While variations of the microtuner neck were found on many American, French and German-made saxophones, the only French manufacturer that produced a microtuner neck that looked like the one you have been Dolnet.
* The RH D# trill, chromatic Bb, chromatic C and altissimo E vent keys look very much like those found on the Dolnet and Jean Cartier (a Dolnet Stencil) Royal Jazz Models.
* As afore mentioned, the engraving looks very Buffet-ish.
* The octave key mechanism looks rather like a Selmer Super.
* The low C/Eb keys and LH altissimo keys look Buffet-ish.
* The only really unique-looking part of this horn looks like the keyguards.
* Your horn doesn’t have an Eb vent key.  That definitely places the horn in the later 1950’s.

Now, I checked the European Patent Database, and there are no entries for Robert Martin, either as a company or as an inventor.  There’s also no information on Dolnet & Pigis.

It has been suggested a few times that there was some sort of connection between Buffet and Dolnet, based mainly upon the similarity of some of their horns (e.g. the Dolnet M70 and the Buffet S1), and that some Dolnet/Jean Cartier horns have the beautiful sparkle lacquer that is featured on some of the Buffet SuperDynaction horns.

I have been able to determine that Macon, France is about 100mi away from Mantes, France, where Dolnet was located.  A bit of a stretch.

This is good for me, in a way: when I do my eventual encyclopedic comparison of French-made horns, I can point to yours and say, “See?  They did copy from each other!  Maybe they all used the same supplier(s)!”

Unfortunately, this doesn’t help you a ton, as far as the origins of your horn.  I still am of the opinion that Buffet may have had something to do with this horn, but I’m not sure what.

IMHO, the best thing you can do is keep playing it if it sounds and plays nice.  If you need to get work done on it, I’d heartily recommend it – the horn looks very nice.  Is it some rare find worth a ton of $?  I doubt it, but I’m still doing my French-saxophone-makers-research project and I’ll update you if I find out anything.

Take care!
Pete