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Echo trumpet cornet, B-flat, A, high pitch / low pitch

Echo trumpet cornet, B-flat, A, high pitch / low pitch

Date: 1917 ca.
Place Made:Chicago, Illinois, United States, North America
Model: Columbia (trade name)
Serial No: 5658; 3834 (echo valve)
SignedEngraved on bell: COLUMBIA / PATENTED / Harry B. Jay Co. / CHICAGO
MarkingsStamped on second valve casing, spring stems and inside of upper valve caps: 5658
Stamped on clamp of main tuning slide: PAT. / 9-12-11 / 0
Stamped on echo valve casing: 3834
Stamped on valve casing, largest guide lug, inside of upper valve caps and spring stems, respectively: 1, 2, 3
DescriptionSilver-plated brass, mother-of-pearl finger buttons, double loop with additional loop for echo bell, conical main tuning slide at first bow with push-rod activated patent quick-change to A with clamp adjustment, alternative high pitch / low-pitch slides at second bow (normal bell setup) can be substituted by echo bell with its own tuning slide, alternative telescopic tuning slide at leadpipe for trumpet (surviving) or cornet (not surviving) mouthpiece (fixed with screw clamp), four Périnet valves (1, ½, 1½, switch to echo bell), valves one to three top-sprung, spring inside hollow stem, alignment by three unequal lugs on spring anchor plate, fourth valve bottom sprung (horizontal, part of echo attachment), nickel-silver-plated pistons, single water key at main tuning slide, windway 3-2-1-4.

High pitch and low pitch tuning slide (inserted instead of echo-bell); alternative set of three valve slides for high pitch or low pitch; silver-plated lyre with detachable lyre holder.

Hand-written calling card, inscribed on one side in ink: Ernest J. Looker Jr / Hobart. / Ind. and exercises on the other


This is a trumpet-cornet hybrid instrument surviving with trumpet leadpipe only. Echo bell and fourth valve are a seperate entity which can be removed and substituted by either a high- or low-pitch tuning slide. The patent stamp refers to US patent no. 1,003,049 from September 12, 1911, for a telescopic tuning slide stop-mechanism for quick-change from B-flat to A. Harry B. Jay was active in Chicago under the trade name “Columbia” until 1946. Dating is based on serial numbers.
DimensionsHeight: 433 mm
Tube length: 1261 mm (high pitch), 1309 mm (low pitch), 1448 mm (echo bell)
Bore diameter (initial, main tuning slide, high/low pitch slide, echo bell slide, valve slides): 10.7 mm, 10.6–11.5 mm, 11.9 mm, 11.8 mm, 11.9 mm
Bore diameter (trumpet receiver, initial, minimum): 11 mm, 9 mm
Bell diameter: 117 mm (normal), 10.7 mm (echo)
ProvenancePurchased from Steve Dillon, Woodbridge, New Jersey, 1990.
Credit Line: Joe R. and Joella F. Utley Collection, 1999
Not on view
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. 197-99, 255, 291.
Object number: 07002