How to value 2 old cornets from 1899 and 1925

stevenkurys · New Member Joined: 30 Mar 2017 Posts: 2 Location: London

Hello,
I have 2 old cornets - one is Boosey and one is Hawkes but nobody seems to know what they are worth. The serial numbers are 53558 for Boosey and Co and the other is called a clippertone serial 54397 which is Hawkes and Son. I took it to a music shop in London and although he had seen the clippertone type before he had never had the Boosey one and only knew one other person who had one. As you can guess I have no idea about the value or cornets in general. Does anybody have any idea? I have put them on ebay in the UK only but no idea how to price. Thanks for any info.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-old-cornets-one-is-seemingly-very-rare-one-is-Boosey-and-one-is-Hawkes-/232287767622?hash=item36156e0c46:g:OU4AAOSwXYtY3SJM

for anyone interested in having a look - thanks again for any info.[/url]

TKSop · Posted: Sat Apr 01, 2017 6:46 am Post subject:

One looks like a compensating cornet, don't see too many.

In the nicest way neither has too much value from a playing point of view - there may be some collector appeal but it'd be difficult to put a figure on.

I don't think your starting price is too high necessarily, I'd let it run and see if anyone bites.

Richard III · Posted: Sat Apr 01, 2017 7:13 am Post subject:

Interesting coincidence. I was at a music store yesterday. They have stacks of instruments that people brought in for repairs and then abandoned them. Yes. Never came back to pick them up. They had two cornets from the same time period with period mouthpieces. I was drooling but they won't let them go because the owners might come back.

I think your starting price is reasonable.
_________________
Richard

King 1130 Flugabone
King 12C mouthpiece

stevenkurys · New Member Joined: 30 Mar 2017 Posts: 2 Location: London

Thanks for the quick replies. I am getting the bit about them not being good for an orchestra because of the tuning and more for the collectors market so its good to know that pricing them low is the thing to do - I will let it run on ebay and see where it goes (even 2 different guys from the same shop were hundreds of pounds different in what they thought they were worth so if they cant agree I certainly have no idea). Thanks again for the info - I will put the price I get on here in case it helps anyone in the future.

Richard III · Posted: Sat Apr 01, 2017 3:31 pm Post subject: