 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Doreen
Date: 2011-07-28 23:24
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Hi everyone! We have come across this antique clarinet and I am wondering if you can help with any info at all. Unfortunately, I see no manufacturer's markings at all. Does anyone have any idea what this is, age and worth? Thanks so much for any help!! Doreen
Post Edited (2011-07-28 23:30)
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Author: Joanna
Date: 2011-07-28 23:39
That's a classical clarinet! It's a period instrument. The age or worth, I don't know, I'm not a specialist on them...
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Author: jasperbay
Date: 2011-07-29 02:17
Its a very early clarinet, usually made of 'boxwood', from the 1800's . The value of these early examples varies widely ($100-$1000) depending on condition and maker. I don't collect them either, usually too expensive for my blood.
Clark G. Sherwood
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2011-07-29 13:32
It's probably from around 1840 and a very basic instrument (the keywork is mounted on pillars and has countersunk toneholes which were pretty new things back then), so probably the equivalent of a student model due to it being a 5-key clarinet.
I don't think it will be worth all that much (but will be worth more to a collector) but it is an interesting instrument and has historical value. The company that made it probably also made more advanced instruments with more keys (around 13 or so) and this one is most likely their lowest priced instrument.
The Ab/Eb touchpiece has been broken off at some point, but a new touchpiece can always be made from brass to complete it.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2011-07-29 17:26
It *may* be from the first half of the 19th century, but be aware that boxwood replicas with brass keys were also popular during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. I own one of these replicas. If it weren't clearly marked with a manufacturer's name and address that I can trace without a doubt to 1894-1891 (the only years when that manufacturer, J. Wallis & Son, was at that address), then I would have mistaken it for a Mozart-era clarinet, as the previous owner did.
Lelia
http://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/Lelia_Loban
To hear the audio, click on the "Scorch Plug-In" box above the score.
Post Edited (2011-07-29 17:26)
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Author: chris moffatt
Date: 2011-07-29 20:15
I'm with Lelia on this one. That barrel looks way too modern to be from a pre-1850 instrument. Also the articulated keywork.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2011-07-29 21:16
The earliest 5-key clarinets of Mozart's time had an articulated key (the low E/B key) as did basset horns as they needed open standing keys for the lowest notes.
But this one is from the mid 1800s when the fancy turnings and external wooden mounting rings or blocks were being phased out and smooth joint surfaces came into being to make manufacturing and mounting keywork easier (as keys were being mounted between pillars instead of wooden blocks or saddles), so the shape of the barrel is in keeping with clarinets of this time which looks very much like modern barrels.
More expensive instruments would have had either an ivory or metal bell ring and if it was a lot later, it would have a RH F/C key instead of the raised tonehole for RH4.
Any books or articles on the history and development of the clarinet will place this instrument somwhere in the mid 1800s.
http://www.music.ed.ac.uk/euchmi/ugw/ugwf1c.html
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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