Other trumpets with hexagonal valve casings

Below is an overview of other trumpets with hexagonal valve casings, a continuation of the articles about the Arigra and the Exakta.

Vega

Vega, an American maker of musical instruments from Boston, made a octagonal trumpet as well. Model Hi-voice, serial number 40143, refurbished in 2012 dates probably from around 1950. Vega started in brass production with the aqcuisition Standard Band Instrument Company of Boston in 1909. The Vega trumpets and cornets were popular with jazz artists as well as the later big bands and solo artists such as Miles Davis; they enjoyed a comfortable niche in the professional market. However, producing handcrafted professional horns without keeping an eye to the increasing demand for student instruments, the company dropped their horn production to concentrate on their stringed instrument sales. In 1970 Vega was bought by C.F. Martin.

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  Vega Hi-Voice, sr.nr. 40143 coll. Robert Adams, Atlanta US

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Jérôme Thibouville-Lamy, Paris

Also from France is this Bb and C trumpet from Jérôme Thibouville-Lamy, with dodecagonal valve casings and a lot of hexagonal details. It's named Hot Jazz Queen. The company is located at 58bis Rue Reamur, which could date the trumpet at 1932 or later.

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  Jérôme Thibouville-Lamy, Hot Jazz Queen, valves numbered 10,11,12, source ebay.fr

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A similar trumpet is engraved Nicholson's Special Jazz and was sold in 2017 through ebay.fr.

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  Nicholson's Special Jazz, valves numbered 7,8,9, source ebay.fr

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Besson London

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  Besson International sr. nr 128961

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A Besson trumpet with fluted casings and hexagonal valve caps. Not a very clear picture but art deco engravings on the rimless bell.

Atlantic Special

A trumpet with ten sided valve casings, caps an bottoms and other hexagonal details is named Atlantic Special with on the bell the inscription Weihnachten (Christmas) 1937 and a removed inscription that the seller supposes was a nazi reference.

Atlantic Special Weihnachten 1937 source Ebay.de 2017

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Richard Jereb

An octagonal trumpet that's owned by Richard Jereb, Vienna. The octagonal form has been consequently continued in different parts, like the caps of the water-keys (made of copper, not brass), junction rods, all pipe junctions. Also the finger ring and the handles of the slides are octagonal. No makers name or whatsoever, only an 1 on the middle valve casing. A stylized violin key on the tuning slide. Valve casings resemble Kühnl & Hoyer although the owner doesn't believe it could be West-Germany. The combination of brass and nickel silver means it's not older than 1970, according to Mario Weller, who's also convinced it's not Markneukirchen made.

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  anonymous, coll. Richard Jereb, Vienna

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Hess Musik, Klingenthal Sachsen

A trumpet with hexagonal valve casings and diagonal braces. The company Ernst Hess Nachf.(Nachf. = successor) was founded in 1872 as an accordion factory and a importer/dealer for other companies instruments in Klingenthal, Germany. In 1935 they started to produce brass instruments, followed in 1937 by saxophone production. After WW2, the factory was absorbed into state ownership and became the Sachsische Musikinstrumentenfabrik, later VEB. In a catalog from around 1939 we find a picture of a trumpet with similar hexagonal casings. In this same catalog Hess also states that some of his products were made in the nearby Czechoslovakian Graslitz, which was by then part of Hitlers Germany.

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Hess Musik, Klingenthal SA trumpet with hexagonal valve casings

Steenhuysen, Brussels

A hexagonal bell and hexagonal valve casings and caps are distinct features of a trumpet that's branded Swing. Swing is believed to be a trade name of Steenhuysen, a brass manufacturing company in Brussels. Pierre Steenhuysen worked for Mahillon before he started his own workshop in 1926. His grandson bought Mahillon in 1970. The bell isn't hexagonal till the end, there's a saxophone player engraved on the bell. Steenhuysen made a Wonder model trumpet, and used similar hexagonal valve caps and bottoms and a rimless bell on other models/instruments, like the Swing Special.

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  Swing, serial nr. 11408, coll. Peter Ros

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Wonder Super

Source: Ebay 2014

A trumpet marked Wonder Super, round (rimless) bell with hexagonal valve casings, ferrules, valve caps and bottoms. Most probably from Belgium; Horn-u-copia lists a Wonder Super trombone engraved 'Fabrication Artistique'. Collector Peter Willemsen believes that Wonder Super also was a tradename of Steenhuysen.

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  An identical Wonder Super, offered for sale from Japan in 2017

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Almost the same trumpet was sold under the name J van Dorpe, Courtrai (Kortrijk) also in Belgium. The main difference is the spin. It's engraved Model Wonder Professional.

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  Source: 2ehands.be

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Johann Zens-Brucher

A trunpet marked Prima was sold by Johann Zens-Brucher who had a shop at 45, Avenue de la Gare, Luxemburg. Here on August 1st 1927 he opened a stationery shop and bookstore, also selling music of all kinds; fishing and smoker's articles, postcards, souvenirs, etc. The trumpet has a lot of details in common with the Wonder Super. The brand name Priam however was used by French manufacturer Joseph Gras in Lille and Paris, as of 1910. It was 'marque deposee', a trademark used for saxophones, flutes, clarinets, saxhorns and for trumpets.

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Trompet branded PRIMA, marketed by Johann Zens-Brucher, Luxemburg, for sale ebay.com 2023

De Prins Super

The hexagonal valve casings are also found on trumpets from Belgian maker De Prins from Antwerp. The De Prins Super trumpet features these hexagonal valve casings. De Prins and later Gebr. De Prins (brothers De Prins) were located in Antwerp, as of 1901. The brothers Karel, Gustaaf and Louis took over after WWI. Gebr. De Prins had a complete Super line of instruments. The company existed until 1980.

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De Prins Super, gebreveteerd sr.nr. 17861, Antwerpen België source: Peter Willemsen

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De Prins Gebrs Grote Prijs, Gouden Medaille Antwerpen België Super model 1950 gebreveteerd sr.nr. 13357 source: Ebay.de 2014

No Name

A no name trumpet with an octagonal bell and hexagonal valve casings was offered in Belgium on 2ehands.be n 2023.

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Octagonal trumpet with no serial, numbered valves, offered for sale in 2023 on 2ehands.be

Super-Vox

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

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  Super Vox Artiste source: Ebay.co.uk 2018

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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.....

Conn Vocabell

Then there's one other famous art deco trumpet from the thirties that has to be mentioned, the Conn 40b Vocabell, produced between 1932 and 1941 by Conn in Elkhart, USA. Octagonal valve casings, and many of them have a fine art deco engraving.

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  Conn 40B Vocabell, 1932 sr.nr. 287706

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King Silvertone

Another trumpet known for it's art deco engraving is the King Silvertone. Here's one from the early thirties.

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  King Silvertone sr.nr.: 157.xxx ca 1933

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  Engraving close up