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Revolutionary-Era Clarinet

Author: Don Poulsen
Date: 1999-12-06 16:08

An acquaintence of mine has a clarinet that an ancestor of his played in 1778 for George Washington when Lafayette was in Philadelphia. Each of the sections of the clarinet is marked "Button & Co.", "London", "B". It is made of a light-brown wood and has what appear to be ivory rings at each of the joints. I believe it has eight tone holes that are covered by fingers (left thumb and three fingers, four right fingers) and seven keys. The mouthpiece, which is black, is grooved for the string that would hold on the reed.

My acquaintence says that he saw two similar clarinets at the Smithsonian. Could anyone provide any more information on this instrument or its maker? What type of wood would it be made from, for example?

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