Königgrätz (now Hradec Králové, Czech Republic)
V.F. Cerveny & Fils 

 Brass, Trimming: nickel-silver
ca. 1889 – 1895
Wind Instruments – Brasswinds – Tubas / Sousaphones / Helicons

Engraved on the bell label:  Starting with center circle: two circular disc (Exposition Universelle -1889) &  (Christopher Columbus – Chicago -1893) – Paris 1883.  The inner circle shows leaves with engraving: Premieres Recompenses – Banner: V. F. Cerveny & Fils.  The outer circle shows:   KOENIGRATZ – Sole Agent for U.S. and Canada LOUIS VITAK 204 WABASH AVE. CHICAGO ILL.     [Cerveny’s later  exhibitions which include:  Cairo in 1895; St. Petersburg in 1907; and Tschenstochau in 1909, are not shown in the engraving, dating this instrument possibly between 1889-1895). 

Vaclav Frantisek Cerveny (1819-1896) was a Bohemian maker and inventor of brass instruments.  He established his workshop in the Bohemian town of Königgrätz (now Hradec Králové, Czech Republic) from 1842-1946.  In 1850 his brother (Frantisek) helped him develop an US export trade, then in 1867 he opened a branch in Kiev (now the capital city of Ukraine), managed by his eldest son Otakar.  Another branch followed in Lemberg (former capital of Austrian Galicia, now known as ‘chief city of Western Ukraine’) and his label was V.F. Cerveny & Sohns…  Later the firm was nationalized in 1946 under the ‘Amati’ brand. 

The helicon, produced by Ignaz Stowasser, Vienna, in 1845 (patented 1848), was designed to be a marching horn, carried on the shoulder, and used in the infantry and cavalry bands. This bass instrument was the forerunner of the Sousaphone, which is the self-same instrument with a directional bell facing forward.    Seen here is Cerveny’s innovation he called ‘Tonwechselmaschine’ (transposing valve) patented in 1846.

Resource: “The New Langwill Index: A Dictionary of Musical Wind-Instrument Makers and Inventors.” William Waterhouse.  Tony Bingham, London. 1993., pg. 60.