Expert: Kenton Scott - 5/4/2009

Question
QUESTION: I have a old brass bugle and would like to find some more info on it. Maybe you could help me.
It is engraved with:

FB
Besson & Co
London
LP
Beare & Sons
Toronto

So far I understand that Besson and Co is the manufacturer, that the initials FB were discontinued at one point and time and that Beare and sons most likely were the distributor.
Unlike other pictures that I have seen of bugles, it does not have the Star engraved like other Besson instruments, but has a LP engraved instead. I can not find any serial number on it or anything.
The bugle is not keyed, but I don't know anything about them to determine if it is single fold or ???

What can you tell me about this instrument according to the engraving and what would it have been used for??

Thank you.

ANSWER: The company was renamed Fontaine-Besson in 1880.  Marthe Besson and Adolphe Fontaine both died in 1908, so I presume that the FB mark was used between those dates.  

Beare was established in London in 1883, and presumably some time later in Toronto.  

LP typically stands for low pitch, though I don't know why a bugle would need to be so marked.  Most bugles are for military use.



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Would there be a serial number engraved somewhere? And what would a serial number tell me?
The L.P. appears to be engraved at the same time as the Beare & Sons, as the type of lettering etc. is different as the Besson & Co engraving. Could it mean anything else then Low Pitch?

Thanks again.

Answer
I don't know what else the LP would stand for.

Serial numbers were used by most makers as a way to track instruments trough the production process.  They were not intended to be a way for consumers to determine the age of an instrument, that is an application that has been constructed after the fact by interested users and collectors.  Some makers would use one serial number list for all their products and some would run several different lists for different product lines.  About the only place one would expect to find a serial number on a  bugle would be the bell. If there isn't one there, then I would surmise that the maker felt no need to number them.