Cornet, E-flat
Maker
Isaac Fiske
Date1873 ca.
Place MadeWorcester, Massachusetts, United States, North America
Serial No.none
SignedStamped on bell: ISAAC FISKE / MAKER / WORCESTER MASS / PATENTED / OCT. 30. 1866. NOV. 12. 1867. / FEB. 11. 1868.MarkingsStamped on upper piston caps, respectively: 1, 2, 3
DescriptionBrass, German-silver, single loop, telescopic tuning slide at leadpipe, three piston-rod-operated string-rotary valves (1, ½, 1½), stop arm, spiral-spring in piston.
The signature refers to Isaac Fiske’s three American patents, no. 59204 (improvement of construction of string rotary valves), no. 70824 (improvement of manufacturing process of small curved tubes or crooks), and no. 74331 (improvement of the windway). However, the design of this cornet most closely resembles Fiske's U.S. patent no. 143,134 from September 23, 1873 (concentric valve arrangement), not yet mentioned in the signature.
DimensionsHeight: 276 mm
Tube length: 955 mm, 965 mm
Bore diameter receiver: 11 mm
Bore diameter valve slides: 11.8 mm
Bore diameter tuning slide (initial, minimum): 10.6 mm, 10.1 mm
Bell diameter: 117 mm
ProvenancePurchased in 1985 from Stewart and Lillian Caplin, New York, New York.
Published ReferencesSabine K. Klaus, “Metallblasinstrumente im Zeitalter des Erfindergeistes” in Valve Brass Music: 200 Jahre Ventilblasinstrumente, ed. by Conny Restle und Christian Breternitz (Berlin: Nicolai, 2014), p. 38, 157.
Sabine Katharina Klaus, Trumpets and Other High Brass: A History Inspired by the Joe R. and Joella F. Utley Collection. Volume 3: Valves Evolve (Vermillion, SD: National Music Museum, 2017), pp. 245-248, 250-251, 307.
Credit LineJoe R. and Joella F. Utley Collection, 1999
Object number06853
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