[TPIN] Dating an antique cornet

[Thomas E. Meacham]

Dave,

None of the  features you mention can be used to precisely date a  
cornet.  There was a lot of overlap in changing design features  
(valve guides, nippled valve caps, etc.) and there was no clear cut- 
off date (or even decade) when one feature stopped being used.

Other design features that might help in guess your cornet's age  
are:  Does it have flat metal water key springs, or coiled springs?   
Does it have a short fixed leadpipe that takes interchangeable B-flat  
and A mouthpiece shanks, or is it a fixed-length leadpipe?  Flat  
water-key springs and interchangeagble mouthpiece receivers are  
indicators of older, rather than newer, cornets.

A lot of "French-sounding" brand name cornets were made in Bohemia  
(such as in the town of Graslitz) or in Austro-Hungarian Empire (pre- 
WW I).  They were given French-sounding names as an instant prestige  
boost, to associate them with such well-known names as Besson,  
Couesnon, or Courtois.

Best wishes,

Tom Meacham
Anchorage, Alaska

++++


On Mar 1, 2007, at 8:14 PM, Achias1 at mchsi.com wrote:

> (Not THAT kind of dating)
>
> i'm still working on finding any info on the DeJaques cornet that I  
> have. It's obviously a stencil, and
> probably was made in Germany.
>
> Is it possible to get a rough idea of how old it is by it's features?
>
> One repairman told me that since it has three guides per valve,  
> it's probably from the 19teens.
>
> Another told me that since the bottom valve caps are nippled, it's  
> probably pre 1890.
>
> The case was covered in leather, but most of that is flaking off  
> now. The cornet was held in place by a
> spring-loaded vice around the valves.
>
> Stamped onto the A slide are the letters, "LO" meaning this  
> instrument is in low pitch.
>
> The unmarked mouthpiece has a funnel cup, but is not as deep a cup  
> or wide a rim as my Wick 4W.
>
> Is any of this identifying it's age?
>
> Dave
>
> _______________________________________________
> TPIN mailing list
> TPIN at tpin.okcu.edu
> http://tpin.okcu.edu/mailman/listinfo/tpin