Antique Musical Instruments/Varsity U.S.A. trumpet

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Expert: - 7/27/2011


Question
Hi, I have a silver trumpet that has the serial number 847 on it. On the bell all there is an engraving, it says is Varsity U.S.A. I have tried to figure out what kind of maker or time period it came from but I am having trouble. My question is can you help me figure out what kind of trumpet this is?  

Thank you.

Answer
There is some debate on the Varsity trumpets.  Holton apparently used the name for student level horns that he imported before he started making the Collegiate line for the student market.  But, there is some speculation that they may have been made or imported by Cleveland, before the company sold to HN White.  In either case, it probably dates to the 1920s.

Antique Musical Instruments

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Kenton Scott

Expertise

Please note: My area is BRASS instruments, not other wind, string or percussion instruments. I will provide information on antique, obscure and out of production BRASS instruments. 1) Please don't ask for evaluations, I'll not provide them on this site. 2) I am often asked very similar questions, so I'd invite you to first check on Horn-u-Copia.net. Much of the information I have garnered about this topic, I have posted on this WEB site.

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I perform in several historical bands, have informally researched the area, repair brass instruments, and operate a Forum dedicated to the topic at http://horn-u-copia.net

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B.S. Ed, M.S.

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