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Cornet, C, B-flat, A, low pitch

Maker C. G. Conn, Ltd.

Date1921-1922 ca.

Place MadeElkhart, Indiana, United States, North America

ModelWonder Vocal Cornet

Serial No.190073

SignedEngraved on bell: MADE BY / C. G. CONN Ltd / ELKHART / IND.
MarkingsStamped on second valve casing: 190073/ PATENTED
Stamped on valve stems: 190073
Stamped on quick-change rotary valve: Bb / C / 4369
Stamped on quick-change slide: 0
Stamped on valve casings and stems, respectively: 1, 2, 3
DescriptionWonder Vocal Cornet model. Instead of the “opera-glass” micro tuner of the Victor Model, the present model has a rotary valve as the quick change. This quick-change construction was patented in 1930 (US patent 1,764,562) by E. J. Gulick, assignor to C. G. Conn. However, this instrument predates this patent. The advantage proclaimed in the patent is that the quick-change can easily be operated by the left thumb without disturbance of the playing hand. A similar construction was later used for the New Era Model 58B trumpet. This cornet model is strongly influenced by trumpet design.

Silver-plated brass, satin-finish with gilded and burnished highlights, bell interior gold-plated, single loop, main tuning slide with stop rod for key-change to A (first bow, nuts lost), rotary-valve quick-change from C to B-flat (after valve segment, perpendicular to regular valve loops), fixed leadpipe, three Périnet valves (1, ½, 1½), top-sprung, spring inside hollow stem, alignment by two unequal lugs on spring anchor plate, pistons nickel-plated red brass, single water key (main tuning slide), third-valve slide replaced without water key, windway 3-2-1.
DimensionsHeight: 433 mm
Tube length: 1179 mm (C), 1341 mm (B-flat)
Bore diameter (initial, minimum, tuning slides, valve slides): 9.9 mm, 8.5 mm, 11.1–11.8 mm, 12.2 mm, 11.8 mm (0.465 inches)
Bell diameter: 117 mm
ProvenancePurchased from Vince DiMartino, Danville, Kentucky, 1997.
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. 107-8, 145, 281.

Credit LineJoe R. and Joella F. Utley Collection, 1999

Object number07149

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