NMM 6822. Cornet in B-flat by Julius Bauer & Co., Chicago or New York, ca. 1875-1880
Joe R. and Joella F. Utley Collection, 1999
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Engraved on a German-silver plaque on the bell:
J. Bauer & Co, / New York, / Chicago
Julius Bauer (b. Prussia 1831-1884) was active as a piano maker and musical instrument dealer in Chicago from 1853, and in New York from 1868. According to the 1870 U.S. census, Bauer was the owner of a retail music store, while in the 1880 census, he is listed as a piano seller. If his brass instruments, manufactured in the 1860s, were actually made in Chicago, then his would be the earliest recorded brass instrument manufacturing in that city. However, B-flat cornet models similar to this one were sold in New York City by the Martin Brothers in 1879. Therefore, it is more likely that Bauer sold instruments made by the Martin Brothers or imported from Germany. The engraving on the bell bears the name of George M. Timbrell (ca. 1856/60-1922), a jewelry store owner in Minisink, New York, which suggests that Timbrell might have been the engraver and/or the owner of this cornet.
Engraved within ribbon on bell: G. M. Timbrell
Body: Brass with richly engraved ferrules and German-silver mounts. Double-looped tubing: leadpipe; valve segment; conical first bow; cylindrical main tuning slide; conical third bow; integral, conical bell bow and bellpipe; garland with plain upper edge and engraved, curved pattern; Saxon rim.
Valves: Three top-action, string-operated rotary valves. Spiral-spring return mechanisms; reciprocal driver pivot stopped by V-shaped cork buffers. Internal slide tubing. Windway: first, second, third valve.
Accessories: none
Sounding length: 1300 mm; internal diameter, leadpipe: 11 mm; bore diameter (inner valve slides) 10.9 mm; bell diameter: 117 mm.
National Music Museum
The University of South Dakota
414 East Clark Street
Vermillion, SD 57069
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