Cornet, C (originally B-flat, A)
Maker
H. N. White Company
Date1913 ca.
Place MadeCleveland, Ohio, United States, North America
ModelImproved Perfecto
Serial No.11870
SignedEngraved on bell: KING / IMPROVED / PERFECTO / MADE BY / H. N. WHITE / CLEVELAND / OHIO.MarkingsStamped on left side of second valve casing: THE KING / MADE BY / H. N. WHITE / CLEV’D. O. / 11870 / MEDIUM BORE
Stamped on right side of second valve casing: PAT. PEND’G
Stamped on valve stems, water key, and one of the main tuning slide ferrules: 11870
Stamped on valve stems and largest guide lug, respectively: 1, 2, 3
DescriptionSilver-plated brass, satin-finish with burnished highlights, bell interior gold-plated, mother-of-pear finger buttons, double loop, main tuning slide at first bow, quick-change slide at second bow replaced with small loop, fixed leadpipe, three Périnet valves (1, ½, 1½), top-sprung, spring inside hollow stem, alignment by three lugs on spring anchor plate, largest lug with horizontal brass wire, pistons nickel-plated brass, single water key (main tuning slide), windway 3-2-1.
“Patent pending” most likely refers to U.S. Patent 1,214,625, applied for February 10, 1913, and granted February 6, 1917. The primary subject of this patent is a quick-change to A, formed as a loop on the left side of the instrument after the valve segment. During the rebuild of this cornet from B-flat to C, the quick-change loop was removed and substituted with a smaller loop.
DimensionsHeight: 380 mm
Tube length: 1194 mm
Bore diameter (initial, minimum, tuning slide, valve slides): 10 mm, 8.3 mm, 11.1–11.3 mm, 11.6 mm (0.456 inches)
Bell diameter: 121 mm
ProvenanceBefore 1940, owned by trumpeter Rafael Mendez (1906–1981); after 1940, owned by entertainer Paul Leonard, until his death in 1981. Purchased from Marjorie Z. Tayloe, North Hollywood, California, through Steve Dillon, Woodbridge, New Jersey, 1988.
Published ReferencesSabine Katharina Klaus, Trumpets and Other High Brass: A History Inspired by the Joe R. and Joella F. Utley Collection. Volume 4: The Heydey of the Cornet (Vermillion, SD: National Music Museum, 2022), pp. 134-35, 278.
Spell, Clinton E. “A History of the H. N. White Co. and Its Products (1893-1965)” MM
Thesis, University of South Dakota, 2013, pp. 136-137.
Credit LineJoe R. and Joella F. Utley Collection, 1999
Object number06907
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