Antique Musical Instruments/Old Besson Trumpet

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Expert: - 7/22/2006


Question
I have been asked to appraise an old Besson trumpet but can't find any information at all on it. The horn is silver plated with gold wash in the bell. The bell has a flattened, rolled over edge, not quite rimless like the Conn. On the bell is art-deco engraving with Besson International. There is a Besson stamp under the bell with Brevette there. Serial number on the ridged valve casings is 126644. It either looks like a copy or inspiration for the Conn 40B rimless peashooter. Same shape.

Answer
Bessons are such a confusing lot.  There are French Bessons and English Bessons. One serial number list would be this horn in the 1930's, another would put it in the 1950's.  

You may want to look through the material at:  http://www.horn-u-copia.net/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?board=Besson

You may find some information or examples of use to you.

Good luck

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.

Experience

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

Education/Credentials
B.S. Ed, M.S.

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