Images(5)

Cornet, B-flat, A

Maker Antoine Courtois & Mille

Date1881

Place MadeParis, France, Europe

ModelArbuckle model

Serial No.11860

SignedSurrounded by a circle: MÉDAILLE / DE/ 1RE CLASSE / EXPOSITION / UNIVERSELLE / 1855
Médaille / LONDRES 1862 / EXPOSITION UNIVERSELLE / PARIS 1867 / Médaille d’Honneur / EN ARGENT / --º-- / ANTOINE COURTOIS & MILLE / Breveté / Facteur du Conservatoire National / 88. rue des Marais St. Martin / Paris / --º-- / 1RE PRIX / GRANDE MÉDAILLE D’OR / EXPOSITION DE MOSCOU / 1872 / & MÉDAILLE D’OR PARIS / 1878
MarkingsEngraved below signature on bell: Presented to / WALTER EMERSON / by his Father / New York 1881
Original mouthpiece signed: ANTIONE COURTOIS / MILLESR / 88 rue des Marais St. Martin / PARIS, on side: MODÈLE / ARBUCKLE

Stamped under third valve cap: 11860
DescriptionBrass with gold-plated finish. Three, top-sprung Perinet piston valves. Mother-of-pearl touchpieces. B-flat and A shanks. Double water key. Shepherd’s-crook design.

Made to Walter Emerson’s order, according to sales receipt dated March 17, 1888.
ProvenancePresented to Walter Emerson by his father, New York, 1881 [engraved on bell].
Bowen R. Church (cornetist in Reeves' American Band), Providence, Rhode Island, acquired it no later than 3/4/1888. Church sold it to Jesse Rogers, Straw Hat Manufacturers, Barre, Massachusetts on 3/17/1888.
A gun dealer in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts bought it from Jesse Rogers. According to Lillian Caplin (New York City), a person named "Vinnie" got it from the [unnamed] gun dealer in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. "Vinnie" was a gun dealer in Worcester, Massachusetts and owned the cornet for ten years. Lillian Caplin (New York City) said that she bought it at an unspecified auction. Caplin sold the cornet to the NMM on July 28, 1989.
Published ReferencesBridges, Glenn. _Pioneers in Brass_ (1965).

“Museum Makes Important Acquisitions Again in 1989.” _Shrine to Music Newsletter_ 17, No. 2 (January 1990): 3.

“1989 Acquisitions at USD Music Museum.” _AMIS Newsletter_ 19, No. 1 (February 1990): 12.

Banks, Margaret. "'For Sale: Emerson's Courtois Cornet - Will Trade for a Horse’.” _America’s Shrine to Music Museum Newsletter_ 25, No. 3 (May 1998): 4-5.

Klaus, Sabine Katharina. _Trumpets and Other High Brass: A History Inspired by the Joe R. and Joella F. Utley Collection. Volume 4: The Heyday of the Cornet_. Vermillion, SD: National Music Museum, 2022. (44-45, 54)

Credit LinePurchase funds gift of John W. and Flora A. Larson, 1989

Object number04667

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