Over-the-shoulder bass trumpet, C
Distributor
H. A. Weymann & Son
Date1890 ca.
Place MadeSaxony, Germany, Europe
Place MadeBohemia, Czechoslovakia, Europe
Place DistributedPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, North America
ModelKeystone State
Serial No.none
SignedStamped on bell: WEY MANN / KEYSTONE / STATE / PHILA. PA.MarkingsStamped on inside of lower valve caps: 12
DescriptionBrass, German silver, two and a half loops, tuning slide at second bow, fixed leadpipe, three rotary valves (1, ½, 1½) three-point-wing device, one stop pin, clock-spring return.
“Keystone State” was a brand name for Henry A. Weymann & Son in Philadelphia. The firm was mostly active as a musical instrument dealer and best known for banjos.
It is likely that the bell with the signature and the body of this instrument did not originally belong together but were married later to form an over-the-shoulder bass trumpet (or tenor horn). The mechanical-linkage rotary valve construction of this instument is not American, but typically German, Austrian or Bohemian, as are other features such as the braces. The instrument has a make-shift character.
DimensionsHeight: ca. 735 mm
Tube length: 2525 mm
Bore diameter (initial, minimum, tuning slide, valve slides): 11.4 mm, 10.7 mm, 13.3 mm, 13.2 mm
Bell diameter: 176 mm
ProvenancePurchased in 1989 from Lark in the Morning, Mendocino, California.
Published ReferencesSabine 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), p. 306.
Credit LineJoe R. and Joella F. Utley Collection, 1999
Object number06957
On View
Not on view
1855-1860 ca.