rorhyner

Good Afternoon Everyone!

I am new to the site, and just returned home from a garage sale, where I bought an old trumpet. Can anyone tell me what I have aquired, it's history, it's value, should it be played now, etc.? I don't know anything about wind instruments, let alone a vintage one. except my son played one in band. The seller didn't seem to know much, but this the info off of the trumpet and case. The case says "It's A Blessing" on the outside, and the trumpet says "STANDARD E.K. BLESSING Co. ELKHART IND. & has the "registered circle symbol." The lettering is surrounded by an etched/engraved "leafy" type of design. The serial number starts with a "7XXXX, and is 5 digits (I can provide the numbers if necessary, I wasn't sure what was appropriate in this forum.) One list I saw online, showed this particular trumpet was made in 1906, but I don't know if that information is trustworthy. The "buttons" (I'm not sure what the correct name for these is, sorry!) are made from a mother of pearl looking material. Thank you, in advance, for sharing your knowledge with me, I am very grateful!! God Bless!

MFfan

Welcome to the Forum. We'll try and help you as best we can. You can post pics from another site, like photobucket, Flickr, etc. The serial dates it somewhere between 55-56. Go to Horn-u-copia and scroll down to the Blessing thread . They have pictures of some trumpets. The Standard was the grade above the Scholastic and below the Artist and Super Artist which were fine horns. Here is a link to Blessing history History I would say yours is in one of the better eras of Blessing horns. I would check the slides for whether they are free or stuck and how the 3 pistons go down and spring up. Did it have a mouthpiece with it? You might check Ebay advanced search for completed listings and see what has been sold. The value is hard to say, It may need a good cleaning and lube of the slides and pistons if it has been sitting a long time. Check it over and get back to us.

__________________
Dave Rafferty
07 Barrington Trumpet, 1972 Reynolds Medalist
55 Besson 8-10 trumpet
55 Roth by Reynolds Cornet
73 Olds Ambassador Cornet
30's Czech small bore Trumpet
Getzen 80 cornet, 33 American Standard cornet
66 Olds Ambassador Trumpet
www.kalamazooconcertband.org