Trumpet cornet, B-flat, A, low pitch
Maker
Harry B. Jay Co.
Date1919 ca
Place MadeChicago, Illinois, United States, North America
ModelColumbia (trade mark)
Serial No.7137
SignedEngraved on bell: COLUMBIA / PAT’D. / H. B. Jay, Co. / CHICAGOMarkingsStamped on clamp at main tuning slide: PAT. / 9-12-11 / 0
Stamped on right side of second valve casing, stems, and upper valve caps (inside): 7137
Stamped on valve casings, stems, upper valve caps and largest guide lug, respectively: 1, 2, 3
DescriptionSilver-plated brass, bell interior gold-plated, mother-of-pearl finger buttons, double loop, main tuning slide at first bow with push-rod activated patent quick-change to A with clamp adjustment, second tuning slide (low pitch) at second bow (small loop after valve cluster on bell side), alternative telescopic tuning slides at leadpipe for trumpet and cornet mouthpiece (fixed with screw clamp), three Périnet valves (1, ½, 1½), top sprung, spring inside hollow stem, alignment by three unequal lugs on spring anchor plate, nickel-plated brass pistons, single water key at main tuning slide, windway 3-2-1.
Two silver-plated telescopic brass tuning slides, one for a cornet, the other for a trumpet mouthpiece; silver lyre
Hybrid between cornet and trumpet with receivers for cornet or trumpet mouthpiece. Louis Armstrong played a similar instrument by the Harry B. Jay Co. between 1918 and 1924, while transitioning from cornet to trumpet.
The patent stamp refers to U.S. patent 1,003,049, applied for by Harry B. Jay on October 31, 1910, and granted September 12, 1911, for an improved quick-change slide mechanism.
DimensionsHeight: 431 mm
Tube length: 1279 mm (B-flat), 1360 mm (A)
Bore diameter (initial, minimum, main tuning slide, second tuning slide, valve slides): 10.7 mm, 10.6 mm, 11.4 mm, 11.9 mm, 11.85 mm (0.467 inches)
Bore diameter cornet receiver (initial, minimum): 9.7 mm, 8.3 mm
Bore diameter trumpet receiver (initial, minimum): 11.2 mm, 9 mm
Bell diameter: 117 mm (4 5/8 inches)
ProvenancePurchased in 1988, likely from Steve Dillon, Woodbridge, New Jersey.
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. 197, 252-255, 298.
Arnold Myers, "How Different are Cornets and Trumpets," Historic Brass Society Journal 24 (2012), 124.
Credit LineJoe R. and Joella F. Utley Collection, 1999
Object number06918
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