Cornet, B-flat, high pitch

Maker F. Besson

Date1883-1884 ca.

Place MadeLondon, England, Europe

ModelNew Star (Nouvelle Étoile)

Serial No.27036

SignedStamped on bell: 31 MEDALS OF HONOUR [surrounded by banner] / FR (monogram) / F. BESSON / BREVETÉ / 198. EUSTON ROAD / LONDON / [five-pointed star]
MarkingsStamped in oval on second valve casing: F. BESSON / [five-point-star] / BREVETEE / 27036
Stamped at bell above signature: DW JW, [lion passant], [leopard's head], H, [Queen Victoria's head]
Stamped at second valve casing: DW JW, [Queen Victoria's head], [lion passant], H.
Stamped at receiver ferrule, tuning slides, first, second, third valve slides and stems, at the mouthpiece, and at the B-flat tuning shank: DW JW, [Queen Victoria's head], [lion passant]

Stamped on valve caps, respectively: [lion passant], 1, 2, 3
DescriptionGold-plated sterling silver, silver applications, colored glass stones, double loop, two tuning slides (second and third bows), removable leadpipe (B-flat shank), three Périnet valves (1, ½, 1½), top-sprung, spring outside hollow stem, alignment by one key on piston (silver), modèle anglais, single water key, windway 3-2-1.

Original gold-plated silver cornet mouthpiece, stamped F. BESSON / LONDON and hallmarked.

DW JW are the marks of London goldsmiths Daniel and John Wellby. The rectangular mark found on this instrument was entered into the goldsmith’s mark plate on December 7, 1887. However, the shape of the date letter H, found on this instrument, indicates an earlier date of manufacture, no later than 1883-1884. It is possible that this richly decorated cornet was made for the 1885 International Inventions Exhibition in London.
DimensionsHeight: 332 mm (not including mouthpiece)
Tube length: 1204 mm, 1274 mm
Bore diameter (initial, main tuning slide, second tuning slide): 10.2 mm, 11.7 mm, 11.7–12 mm
Bore diameter (shank, initial, minimum): 9.3 mm, 8.6 mm
Bell diameter: 118 mm
ProvenancePurchased from Tony Bingham, London, England, 1995.
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. 33-36, 39, 266.

Banks, Margaret Downie, "Brass Instruments from the Utley Collection Fill Museum's Horn of Plenty this Harvest Season - Jeweled Cornet a Hallmark of the Utley Collection" America's Shrine to Music Museum Newsletter, Vol. 26, No. 4 (November 1999) p. 4.

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

Object number07120

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