Expert: Kenton Scott - 3/7/2011

Question
Hello!
I have an old baritone that I would to know more about. I can not find anything about it at the internet, so I hope that you might be able to help me out. It says "SUPER-ARTIST, LISENS-GRAS_FRERES-PARIS" on the bell, and the valves have numbers on them 81, 80, 79 and below, on the one in the middle, it says "J.Gras, BL S.G.D.G, Lille" and then "18231". In addition, over the "super-artist", it says "Tema Bergen", but I believe that it might have been added later,  by the dealer i Bergen? (It was purchased in Norway), but I have no idea.

Answer
Information on Gras is sketchy. Called variously J. Gras, J. Gras & Son, Ch. Gras, Gras Freres, and located in Lille and Paris, France. They were probably both dealers and makers and possibly more than one business concern.

In 1910, it appears that Gras instruments were being made by Thibouville Freres.

Ch Gras advertised in 1922 to be the successor to A, Vion, and established in 1868