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

 Brass, Trimming: nickel-silver
ca. 1876
Wind Instruments – Brasswinds – Tubas / Sousaphones / Helicons

Large Helicon by V.F. Cerveny & Sohns, Jaroslav and Stanislav. This instrument is brass with nickel-silver trim. It has three valves (rotary).  The helicon is possibly influenced by the early Etruscan- and Roman-era cornu. In the 19th century, it was designed to be a marching horn, carried on the left shoulder and used in the cavalry and infantry bands. This bass instrument was the forerunner of the Sousaphone, which is the self-same instrument with a directional bell grafted on. The first helicon was manufactured around 1845 and patented in Vienna in 1848 (Austrian patent 5338) by Ignaz Stowasser (although Giuseppe Pelitti made a similar shaped instrument in 1846.  It was one of several instruments he named Pellitone).  Helicons may have three or four rotary or piston valves and are found in various keys (12- foot Key of F; 13-foot Key of Eb; and 18-foot key of Bb).

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 a 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 & Sons…  Later the firm was nationalized in 1946 under the ‘Amati’ brand. 

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