TromboneChat

I have had for years, a Hawks and Sons Excelsior Sonorous Class A 'peashotter' trombone from Denman Street, Piccadilly Circus, London, the serial number is 29379 but know very little about it. I looked around and the only 'close' reference to the serial number is in the bracket of 1833-34. It is reputed to be from the Great Exhibition of 1851 where it belonged to the Norbury band, who became the Crystal Palace Brass Band, which my Father played for in the 70's.

Sadly, the original case got flooded to death but it still works - of a fashion!!! If there are any sleuths out there who know where I could get some more reliable information, I would be very grateful.

Hi,
Your best bet is to contact The Horniman Museum in South East London. They have a music department which took over the Boosey and Hawkes (Note "Hawkes" with an e!) museum collection and have all the old workshop details-when the instrument was made, where it went to be sold, who made it, who did the silver plating, what time was his lunch break and what did he have in his sandwiches.
Also there is, in their files, a treatise by Gavin Dixon, which traces the history of the companies which eventually became B&H/Besson and that contains a comprehensive list of serial numbers and corresponding dates.

Another source of very useful information is the Musical Instrument Collection at Edinburgh University.

Good luck.

Cheers

Stewbones43

Stew,

Perfect, thank you. I will chat to th(e)m