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Alto horn, E-flat

Alternate name(s)

Alto horn, bell front, E-flat

Maker Quinby Brothers

Date1875-1880 ca.

Place MadeBoston, Massachusetts, United States, North America

Serial No.none

SignedEngraved on the bell: Made by / Quinby Bros. / Boston.
MarkingsStamped on rotor spindles, lower valve rings, and valve cases: 4, 5, 6
DescriptionGerman silver, double loop, tuning slide at first bow, fixed curved leadpipe, three side-action string-operated rotary valves (1, ½, 1½), lever over, double cork, spiral-spring return.

This instrument was marketed as "Quinby Brothers No. 22. Alto. Bell Front. ... especially for the Soloist ..." in a catalog of D. C. Hall from 1876 or 1877.
DimensionsHeight: 413 mm
Tube length: 1965 mm
Bore diameter (initial, minimum, tuning slide, valve slides): 10 mm, 9.6 mm, 11.5 mm, 11.5 mm
Bell diamrter: 178 mm
ProvenancePurchased in 1985 from Stewart and Lillian Caplin, New York, New York.
Published ReferencesRobert Eliason, “D.C. Hall and the Quinby Brothers, Boston Music Industry Leaders: Makers of Brass Instruments with Flat, Round, Square, and Piston Valves,” Journal of the American Musical Instrument Society 33 (2007): 145, figure 50.

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. 243, 309.

Credit LineJoe R. and Joella F. Utley Collection, 1999

Object number06804

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