![Cornet, [c, B, B-flat], A [and A-flat]](/internal/media/dispatcher/12185/preview)
![Cornet, [c, B, B-flat], A [and A-flat]](/internal/media/dispatcher/12185/full)
Cornet, [c, B, B-flat], A [and A-flat]
Maker
F. Besson
Date1887-1889 ca.
Place MadeLondon, England, Europe
ModelCornet in C
Serial No.38152
SignedStamped on bell: 40 [last digit looks like “6”, miss-stamped] MEDALS OF HONOUR (in banner) / FB (monogram) / F. BESSON / “Prototype” / 198 [last digit looks like “3”, miss-stamped] EUSTON ROAD / LONDON / [five-pointed star] / C. FISCHER. / 6. 4TH Av. N. Y. / SOLE AGENT. U. STATES.MarkingsStamped on second valve casing within oval: F. BESSON / [five-pointed star] / [B]REVETEE
Stamped on second valve casing below oval: 38152
Stamped on valve casings and caps, respectively: 4, 5, 6
Stamped on receiver ferrule: A / 3
Stamped on main tuning slide: 3
Stamped on tuning-slide extension: 2
Engraved and marked on one leg respectively of first and third valve slide: B, BI, A, AI.
DescriptionSilver-plated brass, double loop, tuning slide at second bow (with tuning-slide extension for B-flat/A/A-flat), removable leadpipe (A shank), three Périnet valves (1, ½, 1½), top-sprung, spring outside stem, alignment by one key on piston (nickel silver), modèle anglais, single water key at first bow, windway 3-2-1
One silver-plated brass tuning shank for A; tuning-slide extension for B-flat/A/A-flat.
C/B-flat and B shanks missing; A-flat shank or crook missing.
According to the Besson stock books (Horniman Museum and Gardens, London), this “Cornet en ut" was sold to "City" (meaning London) on June 30, 1888, and sold to Carl Fischer in New York on November 28, 1889. It was part of a batch of 3 (38151-3) and was numbered no later than 15 October 1887, if the serial numbers are strictly chronological.
According to the markings found on the inner slides of the first and third valves, the instrument served the keys C, B, B-flat, A, and A-flat. C and B were achieved without the tuning-slide extension; while B-flat, A, and A-flat required the use of the extension. The C shank served both C (without) and B-flat (with the tuning-slide extension). A similar Besson echo cornet with all original parts and alternative high/low pitch slides is preserved at the Musical Instrument Museum Edinburgh (no. 1451).
DimensionsHeight: 330 mm
Tube length: 1120 mm, 1251 mm, 1400 mm
Bore diameter (initial, minimum, tuning slide, valve slides): 12.9 mm, 10 mm, 11.6 mm, 11.9 mm
Bore diameter (shank, initial, minimum): 9.4 mm, 9.1 mm
Bell diameter: 118 mm
ProvenancePurchased from Steve Dillon, Woodbridge, New Jersey, 1989.
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. 36-37, 266.
Credit LineJoe R. and Joella F. Utley Collection, 1999
Object number06976
On View
Not on view![Cornet, C, [B-flat] and A](/internal/media/dispatcher/11685/thumbnail)
