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Cornet, B-flat
Cornet, B-flat
Cornet, B-flat

Cornet, B-flat

Date1953
Place MadeLos Angeles, California, United States, North America
ModelStudio Model
Serial No.99013
SignedEngraved on bell: STUDIO / MODEL / F, E, OLDS & SON / LOS ANGELES / CALIF.
MarkingsStamped on second valve casing and valve stems: 99013
Stamped on valve casings and stems, respectively: 1, 2, 3
DescriptionBrass, bell-flare Cupro-nickel, nickel-silver trimmings, mother-of-pearl finger buttons, double loop in modified S-shaped formation, main tuning slide at narrow third bow, fixed leadpipe, three Périnet valves (1, ½, 1½), top-sprung, spring outside hollow stem, alignment by two lugs in spring anchor plate, nickel-silver pistons, single water key at main tuning slide, windway 3-2-1.

Brass lyre, stamped: OLDS.

Olds’ Cupro-nickel bell consisted of a copper alloy that contains nickel and strengthening elements, such as iron and magnesium. This results in a silvery appearance, despite its high copper content (up to 90 %). The Studio model Olds cornet is described in Olds catalogs of 1949 and 1957 as utilizing “the nickel silver ‘Brilliant Bell’ for unusual carrying power.”


DimensionsHeight: 397 mm
Tube length: 1312 mm
Bore diameter (initial, minimum, tuning slide, valve slides): 10.3 mm, 8.7 mm, 11.9 mm, 11.9 mm (0.467 inches)
Bell diameter: 120 mm
ProvenancePurchased in 1997 from Rich Ita, Atlanta, Georgia.
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. 142-43, 283.
Credit LineJoe R. and Joella F. Utley Collection, 1999
Object number07263
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