Expert: Kenton Scott - 11/8/2009

Question
When did the Goumat Co.produce brass cornets?  I have my great-great uncle's cornet(given to me by my father). My great-great-uncle John (born in 1861 in Indiana) did use this instrument according family oral history.  It is solid brass, and it has the company stamp on the cornet. When my great-great uncle moved to south Texas in the 1920's, he left the instrument with his oldest brother, my great-grandfather, who eventually gave it to my grandfather. When I would stay with my grandmother during World War II, she would allow me to walk up the steps with her to her attic area sometimes.  I remember seeing this instrument hanging on a nail on a rafter. (The cornet is in an unpolished state at this time.)

Answer
The Langwill Index, rather unkindly, lists this company as a Counterfeit purporting to be the maker Goumas.  However, it is likely that Goumat was a tradename used for Austrian made instruments.  The actual maker was probably Bohland and Fuchs.  They were probably imported by the JW Jenkins Co of Kansas City MO.