Arigra

ARIGRA is an acronym for Anton RIedl GRAslitz. Anton Riedl was born in 1861 and established his own company in 1885. Riedl was an accomplished maker of brass instruments, (rotary) valve blocks and bells and also a trader of other musical instruments. Exporting to all countries, as an ad states.

The Arigra and other Czech trumpets

By the end of the 19th century there were 11 musical instrument factories in operation in Graslitz, employing some 300 workers and 16 merchants trading musical instruments. Graslitz then was part of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire

After WWI, Graslitz was part of the new Czecho Slovakian Republik. Production in Graslitz quickly recovered and at a time there were 59 musical instrument manufacturers in the area including such names as Bohland & Fuchs, F.X.Hüller, A.K. Hüttl and Julius Keilwerth. And Musikinstrumenten-Fabrik Anton Riedl, by then located at the Eibenbergerstrasse 835 in Graslitz (now: Wolkerova, Kraslice).

  Eibenbergerstrasse 835, now: Wolkerova 835, Kraslice today source Google maps

In 1931 Anton reached the age of 70 years as senior chef of his Musikinstrumentenfabrik in full physical and mental health, as the Zeitschrift für Instrumentenbau mentions. Riedl's son Hugo became partner in the Musikinstrumenten-Fabrik Anton Riedl from 17-01-1931 onwards (an OHG, Offene Handelgeselschaft). From 14-05-1938 Hugo Riedl is registered as the sole owner of Anton Riedl Musikinstrumenten-Fabrik, trade name Arigra. In a list of house owners in May 1945 Hugo is still listed at the address Eibenberger Strasse 835. After WWII Germans were expelled from what again became Czechoslovakia. In a list of German people that were expelled, Hugo is not mentioned, but Anna Riedl (49) is mentioned as owner of a factory, with a husband in Bavaria, departure provided by a train on October 11th 1946.

With the formalisation of the creation of the Amati collective in June 1948 (working back till 1-1-1947) Anton Riedl was one of the confiscated companies and workshops involved.

Anton Riedl ad Anton Riedl sousaphones played in a youth orchestra around the 1933 Musikfest in Graslitz

Although Riedl made other instruments, he's best known for his octagonal Arigra trumpets. Friedel Keim describes them in his book Das grosse Buch der Trompete" as being inspired by the Jugenstil (Art Nouveau) style, the international style of about 1890 until 1914. But most often they are referred to as Art Deco style. Art Deco was a design style popular from approximately 1925 through 1939.

Art Deco

The name is derived from the style's origins at the the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes (International Exposition of Modern Industrial and Decorative Art) in Paris, although the term "Art Deco" was not commonly used until the 1968 publication of Bevis Hillier's art history book Art Deco of the 20s and 30s.

Art Deco was an opulent and purely decorative style that projected elegant modernism. Much of Art Deco style is based on clean geographic shapes with sunbursts, chevrons, zigzags, and octagons predominating. The increasing dominance of technology is reflected in images celebrating machines like railroads and airplanes. Sweeping curves in buildings reflected new trends in aerodynamic streamline vehicle design. Objects from the natural world (especially eagles) were presented in geometrically stylized designs.

As an aside it must be said that a lot of the horns for phonographs, invented in 1877, also were built with 8 (or more, or less) panels. To be researched a little more....

The Arigra octagonal trumpets have to be dated somewhere between 1925 and 1937, maybe even between 1930 and 1937. Maybe Hugo Riedl was the initiator/maker, as his father was in his seventies already by then. This was the period in which also other examples of art deco like trumpets appear on the market. Apart from their octagonal bell, the Arigra trumpets have a lot of art deco style details. There also is a remarkable, not to say incredible lot of variety between the instruments, not in their overall form but in details like the bracing, the engraving, the spins, the valve blocks. That's possibly because they were handmade over a longer period of time, or maybe the parts were sourced from diffferent makers.

The Arigra: Style and shape

Braces

Most often the Arigra's have a hexagonal shaped spin as the main slide brace. But there are also some examples of otherwise formed spins, a double brace and several examples of a single diagonal brace, with different angles.

hexagonal spin

        hexagonal spin, combined with old style round brace  
  Arigra Extra with octagonal spin
                 square spin   
    circular spin

diagonal single braces

            double brace  
 no brace, probably because the in-between part in the main tuning slide is missing.

Valve block

A solid hexagonal valve block is found on part of the Arigra's. The other ones have 'normal' spaces between the hexagonal valve casings.

But there are also Arigra's with fluted casings.

Mouthpiece

An octagonal mouthpiece is part of the original Arigra set up.

        this mouthpiece came with a Arigra trumpet but is engraved 'Amati

Name engraving

Almost all the Arigra's have this shady lettering. The Arigra Extra has 'Extra' engraved instead of 'Arigra' (difficult to see). The difference with the normal Arigra lies in the shape of the spin. And there is an Arigra with an additional 'L. Tůma' engraved. L. Tůma, was a Prague firm, selling, renting and exchanging all musical instruments.

Most of the Arigra's also have engravings inside the bell, reflecting the engraving on the outside. Quite often the bells have handhammered facets.

Logos

The (presumed) evolution of the logos Anton Riedl used. He must have started with 'Musikinstrumentenfabrik Anton Riedl Graslitz 835/Č.S.R. (835 being the address and Č.S.R. referring to Československá republika, the Czecho Slovakian Republik that existed from 1918 till 1939 and from 1945 till 1960). The trade mark Arigra was introduced and the Anton Riedl reference disappears. I guess the organic forms came first and then the more geometrical 'art deco' designs. The variety is fascinating.

Known types and creators of the Arigra

Arigra Standart

There are a few examples of another Arigra model named Standart. This model has a round bell but quite some octagonal and hexagonal details in common with the octagonal model, like the valve casing, ferrules. It might be a precursor to this model, or a 'light' version. The model name, Standart instead of Standard, must be a statement....

Arigra Standart, valves numbered 58,49,60 coll. Gerard Westerhof An Arigra Standart sold on Ebay December 2014 has on the middle valve a reference to a Britisch patent, numbered 486345.

Arigra Standart, valves numbered 67,68,69 source: Ebay.de That patent, BRIT. PAT. 486345. was applied for on March 17th, 1937 by Heinrich Hermann Dick from German Markneukirchen. It refers specifically to the hexagonal valve casings and the solid valve block, and also mentions the valve heads being screwed inside the valve casings and the pistons provided with a projection registering in a groove in the casing.

patent drawing showing the hexagonal solid valve block and caps and bottoms screwed inside

Heinrich Hermann Dick was the son of trumpet maker Heinrich Dick. Heinrich Dick in 1848 established a dealership for brass instruments in Markneukirchen which was expanded into a manufacturing and exporting company for musical instruments and accessories by his son. As a mail order firm they traded mainly string instruments. In the thirties all other instruments were added, as were mechanical instruments. The conclusion must be that Dick tried to market the Arigra instrument in Great Britain. A similar instrument was offered in September 2013 on Ebay with an asking price of $12.000. It didn't sell...

The hand hammered instrument with silverplating and gold wash has the name VOSCH engraved on the bell. The same Britisch patent number is engraved: BRIT. PAT. 486345. There's a similar Vosch in the Musikinstrumenten-Museum in Berlin. Another Vosch, owned by Daniel Becker from Essen (G) is pretty much the same. Remarkable difference: it has 'Patent regd. 7733' on the valve block. Not clear what that means, as it's a pretty low number for German, UK or US patents.... The valve is marked 13. On the mouthpiece reciever of this Vosch there's a styled AR, suggesting again Anton Riedl as the maker. Which makes me think that Vosch might be a trade name.

     Vosch, coll. Daniel Becker

Broadway

A Broadway, that was sold on the American market also looks pretty much the same. This instrument was sold in 2014 on the Swedish auction site Tradera. Hexagonal valve casings, thumb ring, ferrules and an octagonal spin, all like the Hermann Dick/Arigra/Vosch instrument. It looks like on the bell there's written 'American Model' and 'The Best of the World'. And here's an Arigra trumpet with solid hexagonal valve block and round bell with 'Arigra' on that bell, with the hexagonal spin.

Arigra, valve numbered 24 A, source Aukro.cz 2016

Picalle Paris

A similar trumpet with a typical 'Arigra' valve block, hexagonal spin and thumb ring and two digit number on middle valve, engraved 'Picalle Paris' as well as a naked lady. Detail: the spin is not on the extension piece..

Picalle Paris source: g.mu6 Ebay.com 2016 Below is a trumpet with all the typical Arigra features, without the octagonal bell. The bell has no makers name but the logo frame is identical to one of the Arigra logo's above.

  source g.mu6 Ebay.de 2016

Bohland & Fuchs

The trumpet below is definitely a Bohland & Fuchs. Bohland and Fuchs are established as a partnership in 1870, following the firm of Gustavus Bohland, which had been founded 20 years earlier, and flourished until 1945 when the firm was nationalized. By 1925, they had a workforce of 500. They were the first to use steam engines in their factory before WWI. Before WWII Bohland & Fuchs was one of the main brass instrument factories in Graslitz. During the war most factories were in the war industry. After the war, the production facilities of firms like B&F, Kohlert, Keilwerth, Hüller were merged into the AMATI cooperative (and in 1948 nationalized). So I guess the Bohland & Fuchs instrument will be pre-war. The instrument is engraved with the B&F logo and 'Paris' and a serial number 955 on the middle valve housing (with an anchor under the number). All three of the valves also are marked with "955" (and with 1,2,3 respectively).

   Bohland & Fuchs Paris, sr.nr. 955
                  

Catalog page (ca 1925-1938) with the founders and trademark of Bohland & Fuchs a view in the Bohland & Fuchs workshop An almost identical trumpet, engraved Const. Riedl Nürnberg also has a small (B&F) anchor on the valve block and a serial number 1219. Konstantin Josef Riedl (Nürnberg 22-6-1869 - 19-1-1950) established his workshop in 1883. His son Konstantin Richard Riedl (Nürnberg 31-3-1900 - ? ) started in 1925. In 1930 the workshop was located at the address Hintere Kartäusergasse 5, according to the 'Buch der alten Firmen der Stadt Nürnberg' from that year. That's also the address that's on a logo in the case. The address doesn't exist any more, maybe it disappeared in the WWII bombings that destroyed 80% of the Nürnberg centre. Riedl also is known as an instrument trader.

Const.Riedl Nürnberg, coll. Stefan Hackmann Another trumpet, bearing the B&F anchor with serial number 793 has the name Imperator engraved.

Imperator B&F sr.nr. 793 source Ebay 2015 And this octagonal bell B&F trumpet with serial number 1199 bears the name VUS Berlin.

VUS Berlin, sr.nr.1199 source Ebay 2016 Another VUS Berlin trumpet (no octagonal bell), also with the B&F anchor and serial number 391, has the 'Arigra spin', fluted valve casings, octagonal/hexagonal valve caps and bottoms, with the downside of the bottoms similar to the Eugene Schuster Majestic Aristocat (see below).

        VUS Berlin sr.nr. 391 source: Ebay.de, Marktplaats.nl 2018

V.F. Červený & Synové

A 1920's to 30's V.F. Červený & Synové Art Deco Trumpet was offered september 2011 on Ebay by a Canadian seller. It has a octagonal and rimless bell, 8 vertical ridges on the valve casings and hexagonal valve caps and bottoms.

 V.F. Červený & Sinové  

It is engraved with the name of the Czech brass manufacturer V.F. Červený & Synové (Červený & Sons) from Hradec Králové ('castle of the queen). The seller identified it as an Bohemian made Bohland & Fuchs (B&F) horn, due to the ship anchor stamp on the second valve. There is also a serial number 1459 located. (maybe only the valveblock was from B&F, as it looks very much like the valveblock of the B&F trumpet below.) The seller believed the instrument was probably manufactured as an unadorned stencil by B&F in Graslitz, and then finished in Hradec Králové. There was quite a free exchange of ideas, patterns, and parts in Bohemia and Vogtland in these days. A customer of Czech origin stated that the engraving pattern on the bell is common to Czech painted and etched glass and crystal.

Amati Lignatone

The horns above have a lot of similarities with the Lignatone octagonal trumpet below, for instance the valve block and the bracket between the main tuning slide. Lignatone is a trademark that was used by the state owned AMATI company after WWII for Czech export horns and other instruments.

Lignatone nr. 42 coll. Markus Wieghaus, Germany

 And another Lignatone, Made in Czechoslovakia, offered for sale in 2019 by Trevor Jones, Bristol, UK.

After World War II, in September 1945, musical instrument manufacturers in Kraslice merged on 17.10.1945 into a cooperative that was given the name "AMATI" (now: Amati-Denak). One of them was Anton Riedl. In 1948, the cooperative was nationalized. Some other firms incorpororated were F.X. Hüller & Co, Josef Glassl, Bohland & Fuchs, Julius Keilwerth, A.K. Hüttl, Franz Michl and Kohlerts Söhne. An octagonal Amati trumpet was offered in 2013 on the German auction site Quoka. It's identical with the pre-war Arigra's, even in the lettering.

 Amati    lettering  

That the Arigra was marketed after WWII also becomes clear in a Ligna catalog that is directed to the Latin American/Spanish market. Ligna (latin for wood) was a trade company for (mainly) the export and import of wood and wooden products, founded in 1949. As the catalog shows, it had a department for musical instruments, the catalog showing mainly brass instruments (but also clarinets, bassoons and oboes). On the backside of the cover the brands Cremona (for guitars), Amati (for brass) and Melodia (for accordeons) are mentioned. The saxofones are branded Toneking, which implies that the catalog dates before 1955 (that year Amati had to stop using this brand in favor of Keilwerth).

Ligna A.S. headquarters still exists at Wenceslas Square in Prague, it's only activities now are only renting out the building In this Ligna catalog the Arigra trumpets have a separate entry and are advertised as 'especially for jazz band musicians'. Two models: the Arigra Standard with the one piece valve block and the Arigra Luxus.

Arigra Standard and Arigra Luxus in the Ligna S.A. catalog, between 1949 and 1955 The Arigra Luxus is stated to be identical to the 'Paris' model in the same catalog, although the last one has a S shaped brace instead of the Arigra spin and also the pinky hook is a traditional one. The Paris has side operated spit valves, as has the Paris model from Bohland & Fuchs above with serial 955.

 Paris model in Ligna catalog

The typical Arigra spin and valve caps along with some octagonal ferrules is also found on this Amati from Kraslice. Here the valve casings have the vertical ridges that are seen on the Bohland & Fuchs trumpets (that also was incorporated in the Amati collective).

 source Aukro.cz 2013

And a similar Amati with a rimless bell and serial number 14975:

    source: Ebay Kleinanzeigen 2015

This Bohland & Fuchs trumpet with serial number 1469 also has a rimless bell. And it has this typical 'Arigra' spin. It could be post WWII as it's engraved Kraslice, the Czech name of Graslitz that was used after the war.

Bohland & Fuchs Kraslice sr.nr.1469 Ebay.de 2015 And it's identical to this trumpet in the above mentioned Ligna catalog, model number 3000. For jazzband, 'model for virtuosos'.

 source: catalog Ligna S.A.

Princess

A pretty much similar trumpet with also a rimless bell is this one engraved Princess. Its has the numbers 108 and 461 on the middle valve. The downside of the valve bottoms is similar to the one thet are found one the Schuster Majestic Aristocrat (see below)

Princess nr. 108 461, source Ebay 2015

Roland

This Roland has serial number 968 and the B&F anchor.

   Roland sr nr 968 source Ebay.com 2016

R.J.Jackson Omega

A wrecked trumpet marked R.J. Jackson Omega popped up on Ebay UK in december 2014. It has octagonal valve caps and bottoms, octagonal B&F like ridges, a Arigra Standart-like spin and art deco engravings.

R.J.Jackson Omega, valves marked 10, 11, 12 source Ebay.co.uk J Steijn Zaandam Imperial Another B&F stencil with fluted casings and 'Arigra' spin, marked Imperial and traded by Dutch music shop J. Steijn in Zaandam.

J. Steijn Zaandam Imperial

sr.nr. 536 source marktplaats.nl 2016

Dearman, London

Dearman is a trademark of John E. Dallas & Sons, who distributed the Czech B&F trumpets under the names Dearman Master, New Special, New Super. Octagonal and hexagonal details, art-deco engraving, it's all there. The bell also says 'foreign', which confirms that it's produced outside Great Britain.

   Dearman New Super source Ebay.co.uk 2015

Rolls Diplomat

The Rolls Diplomat and the Super Rolls Diplomat are also trumpets with fluted casings and a lot of art deco details. Trevor Jones who offers one for sale states that they were probably made by Bohland & Fuchs for Selmer. Several cases say Rolls Diplomat Handcraft Instruments, 8, Moore Street London W. Which is close to 12, Moor Street where Ben Davis is said to have started Selmer London back in 1929 when he secured an agency deal to sell saxophones supplied by the French company Selmer. In 1937 they moved to 114-116, Charing Cross Road, a few minutes walk. (Other sources say however that Ben started at the 1st floor of 126, Charing Cross Road and moved to 114-116 in 1932...) NNone of the Rolls Diplomats I've seen has the typical B&F anchor however, most of them have a double figure serial number which isn't typical for B&F either. Most of them also have the engraving Foreign on the middle valve casing, indicating that they were made outside of the UK.

         Rolls Diplomat, serial number 14 195, Foreign

Romeo Orsi

A similar valve block with the vertical ridges on the valve casings and a lot of other 'art deco' details are found on this trumpet engraved Ditta Prof. Romeo Orsi Milano Perfectum. It has a rimless bell. The spin slightly differs from the above ones.

Ditta Prof. Romeo Orsi Milano Perfectum. coll. Robert Woodruff, Pennsylvania US, before restauration (above) and after (below). Pinky hook and 3rd valve slide ring added, valve bottoms replaced with hexagonal ones

Romeo Orsi (1843 - 1918) was a clarinettist and an instrument maker in Milano. As of 1918 the firm was called Prof.Romeo Orsi. Ditta is the italian word for company and Perfectum was the top line of their instruments, in a constructional and esthetical way.

1938 catalog Ditta Prof. Romeo Orsi Milano, coll. Francesco Carreras, Pisa This instrument is featured in the 1938 Orsi catalog and shows a hexagonal spin, braces, ferrules and valve tops, octagonal valve caps and bottoms. The instruments labelled "Perfectum" were top quality production of Orsi and included woodwinds as well as brass winds. It's an instrument not produced for many years since it's not in the 1932 catalog and disappears in the later catalogs. The similarities between the valve blocks of the Červený, B&F, Lignatone and Orsi instruments could indicate they came from the same valve block maker.

Emperor Virtuose

Another trumpet with octagonal valve caps and bottoms, fluted casings and a lot of hexagonal details, sold from New York and engraved Emperor Virtuose. The seller states that the valve casings are numbered 7,8,9 and dates it in the 1930's, which I think is correct.

Emperor Virtuose, valve casings nr 7,8,9 source: Ebay.com 2018 Emperor Virtuose is a French brand by Dolnet from Paris.

     Emperor Virtuose Dolnet Paris, trumpet with hexagonal details.

Triumph, Anton Riedl

Back to Anton Riedl. A trumpet with a hexagonal valve block was offered on Ebay.de in 2015. It's engraved 'Triumph' and has a lot of hexagonal details, especially the valve caps and bottoms. Anton Riedl advertised Triumph as his jazz trumpet brand, this is definitely an (early) Riedl.

Anton Riedl Triumph, valves numbered 4,5,6, snippet of Anton Riedl ad.

AK Hüttl Kraslice

   AK Hüttl Kraslice source Aukro.cz 2017

The above trumpet is marked AK Hüttl Kraslice. Anton Konrad Hüttl (started his workshop in 1877, in 1935 some 40.000 brass instruments a year were made. Together with Bohland & Fuchs Hüttl took care of 60% of the Graslitz export of brass instruments. And like B&F the firm was confiscated in May 1945, and became part of the Amati collective. Hans Hüttl worked from 1947-1954 in South Wales were Boosey and Hawkes gave him the opportunity to look for new export markets. This trumpet is also not octagonal but hexagonal in it's details. The valve casings are marked 49, 50, 51. What's interesting is that it reads Kraslice instead of Graslitz, suggesting that it was made after WW II and somewhere before the start of Amati (although there seems to have been a transition period in which names like Bohland & Fuchs were used in combination with the Amati label). It looks however very much like the above Triumph and 'pre-war. And the name Kraslice was also in use between the two wars for non-export production.

Zolena (?)

This trumpet offered on Ebay in 2013 also has hexagonal valve casings and other hexagonal details and a hammered bell. The valve block is not of the solid type. Probably pre WW-II, the engraving is difficult to read, the seller's estimate is 'Zolena'. It looks a lot like the above Triumph and the AK Hüttl, obviously missing the piece with the spin that would make it play in Bb.

Chas E. Foote, London

A more or less identical trumpet is engraved "Chas E. Foote" and "Ref '25'". Charles Edward Foote opened a music shop in 1920 at 232 Hornsey Road, London. It relocated to Soho in the 1930's. It has the same hexagonal valve caps and bottoms as the Thriumph and the Hüttl. This instrument also seems to be missing the piece that makes it play in Bb, it's handhammered and has a rimless bell like the Zolena. Foote's instruments are often marked Ref, Super Ref or Ref Streamline. For now my hypothesis is that is has the same Graslitz origin as the above trumpets.

Chas E. Foote, Ref 25, coll.: Martin Littlewood UK

Chas E. Foote Ltd. shop in London, UK

Super-Vox

Another trumpet with hexagonal valve casings is branded Super-Vox Artiste Model and was offered through UK Ebay in 2018.

Super Vox Artiste source: Ebay.co.uk 2018 An 'important' difference with the above trumpets is the ribbed edge at the tubes. Looking for some background of this Super-Vox trumpet I found a page of a catalog from Vox, the UK producer of amplifiers that emerged in the 60's and was made popular by the Beatles. In a 1964 and a 1965 price list there are apart from the amplifier stuff a few saxophone models advertised with the model name Vox Artist Model. On the Bassic-Sax website Helen Kahlke explains how the Thomas Organ Company in California tried to expand their Vox amp business to the wind bands with the Amplifonic, offering a whole bunch of wind instruments. But that was around 1968 and I think the above Super-Vox is much older than that.....

So far for the Czech/Graslitz related instruments. Now over to Markneukirchen and the Exakta.