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Image Not Available for Sousaphone, bell up, BB-flat, high pitch / low pitch
Sousaphone, bell up, BB-flat, high pitch / low pitch
Image Not Available for Sousaphone, bell up, BB-flat, high pitch / low pitch

Sousaphone, bell up, BB-flat, high pitch / low pitch

Alternate name(s)
  • Raincatcher
Date1904 ca.
Place MadeElkhart, Indiana, United States, North America
ModelRaincatcher
Serial No.84672
SignedEngraved on bell: MADE / BY / C. G. CONN / ELKHART / -IND-
MarkingsStamped on each valve: 163013 [check this because NMM 00103 reportedly has the same numbers stamped on each of its valves! ]
DescriptionThis is the earliest "raincatcher" sousaphone by Conn preserved at the National Music Museum and one of the earliest surviving Conn sousaphones, since only a handful were made in the early years of production.

Brass; with silver-plated, satin finish. Burnished bell interior. Three Perinet piston valves. Mother-of-pearl touchpieces.
DimensionsCoil diameter: 787 mm
Bell diameter: 545 mm
Bore: cannot be measured
ProvenanceArne B. Larson Collection, Vermillion, South Dakota, 1979.
Published ReferencesHarvey Phillips and William Winkle, The Art of Tuba and Euphonium (1992). Appendix B, p. 98.
Credit LineArne B. Larson Collection, 1979
Object number00335
On View
Not on view
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