Expert: Kenton Scott - 1/14/2006

Question
My father (born 1890) played with several name bands. I have his gold plated Conn trumpet which was given to him by the Conn company for advertisment.  On the second valve are the numbers 183568.  The horn is quite fancy with floral engraving, and an eagle on the bell.  The top of the keys are mother of pearl, and the horn seems to be in excellent condition.  Horn is still in its case C C Conn Ltd., Elkart, Indiana with mute, music holder etc along with receipts from Musical Mutual Protective Association...Local No. 4 A F of M dated 1925 through 1928

Any info. you may be able to give regarding said horn and its value would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Answer
What a wonderful piece of family history.  

Do you know when he was presented with this horn?  It appears that it was produced in 1921.  It would be interesting to know whether they were produced immediately before being presented or not.

That would been after Conn himself had retired and Carl Greenleaf was head of the company.  

I'm sure such a horn would be worth something, and probably would as good a price on eBay as any place.  But, would you really want to part with something that celebrated the ability of your father?