Manchester, England – United Kingdom
“Joseph Higham” 

Nickel plated – silver
ca 1857
Height: 14 in
Wind Instruments – Brasswinds – Cornets / Cornopeans

The bell reads: Patent, By Her Majesty’s Royal Letters, J. Higham MAKER, Inventor & Patent and serial # 5105.

This piston-activated rotary valve cornet in Bb was made by Joseph Higham (1818-1883) during the 1850’s. It has its original case with 2 crooks, 2 bits and the original mouthpiece stamped J. Higham.

Higham’s valve design shows a rotary valve that is activated by the player pushing down a piston that travels through a tube/casing to the rotary. This system was patented in Great Britain by Higham in 1857 (GB #123) (Eliason 1981, 44).   Then in 1866, Isaac Fiske patented valves, much like the cornet valves of Higham, in the United States (US #74331).

Higham also patented the “Echo Bell” trombone (GB #13630), in 1895. A Higham trombone marked “Improved Superior Class, Exhibition Prize Metal Awarded, London 1862 & Dublin 1865 awarded to J. Higham Maker,” can be found in this collection under “Trombones.”

 Resources:  The New Langwill Index : A Dictionary of Wind-Instrument Makers and Inventors (Waterhouse 1993); The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments (Sadie, ed. 1991); Eliason, Robert E. “Early American Brass Makers.” Nashville: The Brass Press, 1981.; Adams, Peter H. “Antique Brass Wind Instruments.” Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing Ltd., 1998; C. G. Conn. “C. G. Conn’s Truth.” Elkhardt: C. G. Conn, December, 1899; http://www.angelfire.com/music2/thecornetcompendium/index.html.