Whether you are an historian, an accomplished musician, a gifted amateur, a part-time dabbler or former player in a school band; whether you are a serious collector, a player of an old instrument or an inheritor of a family heirloom; it is hoped that this site will be of use to you, for the purpose of finding out the date of manufacture and other details about your instrument. 

A common occurrence is that of someone who owns an instrument making an attempt to learn something about that instrument- to no avail. Many companies kept poor records, or none at all. Many companies that have gone under over the years disposed of their records, lost records in fires, or else the present whereabouts of their records are unknown.

An example of this is the sale of Courtois to Emmanual Gaudet in 1911. The company records were unfortunately not part of the sale, and their whereabouts is and remains unknown.

There are two ways and means of gathering information: 

The primary method involves good old-fashioned detective work- tracking down records and information stored in private collections, museums, antiquarian book shops, private and public auctions, estate auctions, and so on. 

The main advantage to this method is the tremendous resources and expertise brought to bear on the subject. The main disadvantage is that the focus is most often entirely on the most popular and collectible examples.

The secondary method involves piecing together the puzzle by opening a forum to the general public, taking all information in, sifting through that information for content and accuracy, and in the end compiling a database. 

The main advantage to this method is that absolutely everything is given equal consideration. Trends and influences are more easily seen when the whole picture is laid out before you.

This simple act also serves to suss out a problem with the first method- one tends to become prejudiced when focusing on only a tiny part of what in reality is a very big and complex puzzle, which in turn blinds one to the big picture. 

For example, perhaps your prized example of a fine instrument was really a high quality knock-off of a cheap, poorly made, unknown instrument, that was nevertheless the true innovation behind the story. Consider, for example, the instrument identical to Sax's "saxophone" at the exhibition in Paris where Sax demonstrated his "new" instrument. That instrument's importance can not be dismissed or underestimated in the scheme of things, but to this day scholars tend to see Sax and his work to the exclusion of what otherwise was going on  in the world.

To date, and to the best of my knowledge, this type of project has never before been done, in all the long history of brasswinds. But now, for the first time, here is a place to pose your questions and to share your information. At first you may have only questions, and little information. But given time and participation, the information will accumulate and the questions will inevitably be answered. 

For example, let's assume that there was once a maker of brasswinds we will call BlattLoud, and that they were made in limited numbers around, say, 1912, and that one of their cornets, the BlattLoud BilgeWhacker has come down to you through a distant relative. Thus far, your attempts to find out anything about your odd cornet have proven fruitless. But in the forum you provide the serial number of your instrument, a description of its appearance, perhaps something of its bore-profile and/or manufacture, the location of its purchase, and so on. Let us further assume that at first it seems that no one else has ever heard of a BlattLoud BilgeWhacker.

All the while, bits and pieces of information are coming in. You check back in a month- nothing. You check back in six months - still nothing. But one day, you come across someone else's entry on a BlattLoud BilgeWhacker cornet, and the serial number is not far off from your own. Let us say that the other person has no idea of the age of the instrument, but that the music store it was purchased from is known. 

In this manner, between the two of you, you now know where these instruments were sold, and the approximate date of their manufacture. 

This process is called cross-referencing, and it is through this process that disparate pieces of a puzzle will come together. 

It is hoped that other sources will also come together and participate in this forum: present-day manufacturers, retired instrument builders, brasswind historians and experts- your participation is hoped-for and invited. 

Further- it seems an oddity, but seldom are instrument builders, retired or otherwise, found to be participants in gathering information on old instruments. If you know of people who once worked for an instrument manufacturer that has been out of business for some time, please let them know of this forum and encourage their participation. The more time goes by, the less the likelihood of their information ever coming to light.

Greg Monks

Though this might not be the best board to post this plea, I hope I will be forgiven. If anyone has important original documents related to the musical instrument industry either in the form of trade catalogs, company records, diaries, family papers, or other papers (ephemera) please don't toss the material. If you have such material and you are concerned that your family won't understand what to do with it if you die, put something in writing telling them what do with the papers. Donations to the Library of Congress, Music Division, The National Music Museum, The Smithsonian Institution, and many other museums and libraries too numerous to mention will gladly accept your papers and give you a tax write off. I've heard simply too many stories about families tossing out grand dad’s old junky letters and papers only to find that they were important. Local historical societies and universities are another place where papers are often donated. While both will probably accept the material, please consider donations to an institution that will care for the material; make the material accessible; preserve the material; and most importantly CATALOG the stuff so researchers will know what's where. Few historical societies have such resources, sadly.

Having said all that, understand that even though the information may be valuable, you won't get rich selling it. So, consider donations as a way of preserving a family member's legacy. If sufficient questions arise regarding this issue, maybe we will need to start a new discussion.

Peter

Congratulations for this wonderful web-site work!

Regards from Spain