Bass ophicleide, C
Date1850-1860 ca.
Place MadeGermany, Europe
Place MadeAustria, Europe
Serial No.none
SignedEmbossed on garland: JVBDescriptionBrass, bell interior painted red, single-coiled bocal, nine keys, lowest key open, all others closed.
French model nine-key ophicleide. Early features are the flat keys and the single-coiled crook without tuning slide. The maker is not yet identified. Some features, such as the slightly amateurish Nuremberg rim and unusually thick tone-hole rims, resemble those found on an ophicleide by Joseph Meinlschmidt in Vienna, after 1866 (Leipzig no. 1603). It is therefore possible that the present ophicleide was actually built in Austria or possibly Germany.
DimensionsHeight: 1020 mm
Tube length: 2323 mm
Bore diameter (at bocal receiver): 29.4 mm
Bell diameter: 197 mm
Keyhole positions (from bell end): 190 mm, 353 mm, 477 mm, 562 mm, 754 mm, 803 mm, 955 mm, 1165 mm, 1236 mm
Keyhole diameter: 43 mm, 38 mm, 42 mm, 32 mm, 31 mm, 25 mm, 19 mm, 16 mm, 15 mm
ProvenancePurchased in 2004 from Jack and Suzanne Sigler, Ruskin, Florida.
Published ReferencesKlaus, Sabine Katharina. Trumpets and Other High Brass: A History Inspired by the Joe R. and Joella F. Utley Collection. Volume 2: Ways to Expand the Harmonic Series (Vermillion, SD: National Music Museum, 2013), pp. 153, 243, 260.
Credit LineJoe R. and Joella F. Utley Collection, 2004
Object number10789
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