Expert: Kenton Scott - 7/15/2011

Question
QUESTION: I have my grandfather's silver cornet [with mouthpiece] that was made by a company called Lyon & Healy. It is in excellent condition and has the name of the company engraved in very beautiful, scrolling script on the outside of the bell. It is in its original case that the case in a moldy mess, I'm afraid. I'm just glad the instrument itself is in good shape. All the valves still work! I belive my grandfather played it in the 1920s but the instrument might be older that that. Is there anything else you can tell me about it?
Thanks so much-

ANSWER: Lyon and Healy were major players in the music instrument business at the turn of the Century.  The company dates back to 1864.  They were primarily importers, though they put their name or one of their tradenames on most of the products they sold.  They did make a small proportion of the instruments they sold, and labeled them Own Make.



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

QUESTION: Thanks for the information about the company. But what about the cornet? I found a very similar one [the overall shape is slightly different] on eBay that was dated 1907. Is there a way to guessimate a manufacture date [by design, the engraving, etc.]? Where were these cornets imported from? The engraving on mine says, "From Chicago." So does the case. Were these cornets commonly imported and sold to every schoolboy who wanted to play or is there something unusual or unique about them? My grandfather came from struggling working class people and this would have been a very grand purchase for them, and for him if he bought it himself as a young adult.
Thanks for anything else you can tell me-

Answer
>But what about the cornet? I found a very similar one [the overall shape is slightly different] on eBay that was dated 1907.

I didn't see it, did they document how they came up with that date?


>Where were these cornets imported from? The engraving on mine says, "From Chicago." So does the case.

Lyon and Healy was located in Chicago, so that was why it says Chicago.  Depending on its age, it may say where it was imported from.  Most were from Czechoslovakia.  But, Lyon and Healy experienced a series of files around the turn of the century and lost most of their records, and went out of the band instrument business around 1940.  Instrument companies are generally interested in selling more instruments, not in creating historical records of what they have already sold.   

>Were these cornets commonly imported and sold to every schoolboy who wanted to play or is there something unusual or unique about them?

Some of both.  They sold a range of quality of instruments.  They were frequently the subject of disparaging ads by domestic makers, but that was mostly marketing.  


>Is there a way to guessimate a manufacture date [by design, the engraving, etc.]?

Now you are on the right track.  You can sometimes get inferences about instruments by their overall design, the style of the engraving and the markings on it.  

Here are some Lyon and Healy cornets:  http://www.horn-u-copia.net/show.php?selby=+where+instrument%3D%22Cornet%22+and+

But if you go to my page on Lyon and Healy,
http://www.horn-u-copia.net/Reference/display.php?thisrec=421
You can see examples of other Lyon and Healy cornets that were sold under other brand names.  You might also find the catalogs linked on that page intersting