Klarinet Archive - Posting 000620.txt from 2004/08

From: "Lelia Loban" <lelialoban@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] FW: 1896 Selmer Basset Horn
Date: Sat, 21 Aug 2004 13:50:27 -0400


Re. the instrument the seller describes as an 1896 Selmer basset horn on
eBay at
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll=3FViewItem&rd=3D1&item=3D3742731263&s
sPageNa me=3DSTRK:MEWA:IT.

Ken Shaw wrote,
>I also doubt that it belonged to Sir Henry Wood.
>The case is stenciled "RAM" (Royal Academy of
>Music), so it is a school instrument that had probably
>been in storage for a long time.

At some point, the original case for this instrument may have worn out, and
a used case (with the RAM stencil) may have been re-fitted inside to
accomodate the basset horn. If the seller is right that this is a basset
horn in F dating from 1896, then I don't think it would have come with this
type of case. The outer contour of the case in the photos is not typical
of late 19th century clarinet cases. Also, I think that garish, red velvet
lining came into use in the 1920s, but it was still in use by Selmer, for
Selmer and Bundy cases, at least as recently as the 1980s. With antique
instruments, unless there's good reason to think that a case is the
original, I assume it isn't.

Lelia Loban
http://members.sibeliusmusic.com/LeliaLoban
More trees, less Bush: Kerry and Edwards in 2004!

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