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RAOUX-MILLEREAU piston/hand horn with F crook and optional A crook
£880.00
RESERVED
A good Raoux-Millereau piston/sauterelle horn
dating from the late 1800s.
Engraved on the bell's garland/kranz (2.85 cm in width) is:
“Raoux Brevete S.D.G.D. Fournisseur du Conservatoire
66 Rue d’Angouleme Paris.”
NB: S.D.G.D. (“Brevete Sans Garantie Du Governement”)
means “Patent without Government guarantee” or 'Patent
Pending'.
Further up the exterior bell throat “Millereau” is engraved,
and 180 degrees round the bell flare the small oval
poincon embracing the intertwined letters 'AR'
(Auguste Raoux) is stamped into the brass.
On the opposite side of the bell garland is
an English address, that of Millerau's import agent:
A.W. Gilmer & Co. Sole Agents. 32 Paradise Street
Birmingham.
Gilmer’s address, recorded in the 'Langwill' book,
was 31-32 Paradise Street from 1861-1887.
One can assume that after the company's move
to the premises 'next door', number 32,
'& Co' was appended.
This late 19th century horn is in 'generally good-to fair'
condition; it must be mentioned that, cosmetically, there are
some visible signs of small dent repairs in a few places.
Some inconsequential 'dings' remain on
the body, bell flare, crook and outer rim of the bell garland.
The horn comes with an original F crook, which
plays very well, but visually seems not to belong with the
horn, since its stay lacks the curvature of the horn's bell
stay.
'F' is engraved on the crook chemise's small rectangular
silver plate. There is visual evidence of a somewhat
inelegant repair, and some small dings, which seem not to
have any adverse effect on its playing – in fact this crook
plays better with this horn than any other of my small F
crook collection.
Generally,the instrument plays with great sensitivity,
admittedly with a slightly 'tight' high register
(not a-typical for French instruments of this genre).
The detachable piston valves are numbered on the front:
4 5 6 and
on the back of the 2nd valve:
“9771 Millereau Brevete Paris.”
The pistons have good compression, with a reasonable
degree of 'pop' even when dry and un-oiled.
This is surprising, considering that the horn body
shows signs of being much-used.
A valve-replacement tube for hand horn playing is supplied
(visible in photos 3,4,and 6). Its slight bend is necessary to
accommodate the fact that the inlet/outlet tuning slide
receivers of the sauterelle that it replaces are not 'in line'.
Optionally available for an extra £95 is an excellent 'A' crook, possibly by W. Brown & Sons. Its rectangular silver plate is stamped 'A' rather than 'La', denoting an English rather than French origin.
The photos can be viewed in greater detail
by opening and saving them.
Halstead Music Ltd acts as an agent only,
accepting no responsibility as a principal.
Red Dragon I.T. Ltd.