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Soprano cornet, E-flat

Maker Denis Antoine Courtois

Date1877 ca.

Place MadeParis, France, Europe

ModelSolo model, no. 107

Serial No.9867

SignedEngraved on bell: ANTOINE COURTOIS / BREVETÉ / Facteur du Conservatoire National / 88. Rue des Marais ST. Martin / PARIS / Médailles de 1re. classe / Expositions Universelles Londre 1851. Paris 1855. / Londres 1862. / MÉDAILLE D’ HONNEUR / en argent / Exposition Universelle / PARIS 1867. / 1ER PRIX / GRANDE MÉDAILLE D’OR / Exposition de Moscou / 1872. / JOHN DRURY GOOD. (within floral engraving)MarkingsStamped inside top valve cap of third valve: 9867 Stamped on valve casings and stems, respectively: 1, 2, 3DescriptionSilver-plated brass, mother-of-pearl finger buttons, double loop in S-shaped formation, main tuning slide at second bow, removable leadpipe (shank stamped MIb), three Périnet valves (1, ½, 1½), top-sprung, spring inside hollow stem, alignment by three unequal lugs on spring anchor plate, brass pistons, single water key at first bow, windway 3-2-1

Tuning shank stamped MIb
Unstamped German-silver cornet mouthpiece (not original).
Cleaner with wooden knob stamped: ANTOINE / COURTOIS / PARIS
Original case with lock stamped: PATENTED / SEPT 18 1877

The patent date on the case might suggest the manufacture of the cornet around 1877, since the case seems to be custom made for this instrument. Derived from an earlier French B-flat cornet design with S-shaped leadpipe, Courtois' size reduction of this model for a soprano cornet in E-flat was widely copied by other manufacturers, and sold as "Courtois Model" E-flat cornet by firms such as C. Bruno & Son in New York and Lyon & Healy on Chicago in the 1890s.

DimensionsHeight: 257 mm
Tube length: 875 mm, 945 mm
Bore diameter (initial, minimum, tuning slide, valve slides): 10.9 mm, 9.4 mm, 10 mm, 10 mm
Bore diameter (shank, initial, minimum): 9.4 mm, 8.6 mm
Bell diameter: 115 mm
ProvenanceOriginally owned by John Drury Good. Purchased from Jean Michel Renard, Bellenaves, France, 1996.
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. 166-67, 286.

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

Object number07155

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