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Lew Davis 'Autograph' trumpets? Are they common or rare?



 
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TriumphantTrumpeter
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 30, 2021 9:14 am    Post subject: Lew Davis 'Autograph' trumpets? Are they common or rare? Reply with quote

Hi all,

I discovered a picture online of a trumpet that was sold secondhand by TrevorJones in the UK that I really rather like the look of. It was listed as a Lew Davis 'Autograph' model and it's has a very stylish 'Art Deco' design. I haven't found much in searching around the internet but what I have gleaned is that this fellow Lew Davis and his brother were behind the Selmer UK brand and had a shop called 'Lew Davis Music Shop' in London that apparently sold guitars to some of the big names in 60's and 70's music.

https://www.trevorjonesltd.co.uk/Vintage_Trumpet_2.htm

What I would like to know, if anyone has any information is, is the trumpet pictured in the original sale listing above, likely to have been a common model or very rare? Would it have been made by Selmer in France for Selmer UK/Lew Davis or would it have come from another manufacturer.
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Halflip
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 30, 2021 11:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I hope you're not tired of your Bueschers already . . .

That Lew Davis trumpet as advertised by Trevor Jones caught my eye years ago. Somehow I determined that it had been sold long before and I didn't bother investigating further.
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TriumphantTrumpeter
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 30, 2021 12:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Oh no, I'm definitely not tiring of the Bueschers. I love those trumpets but I am a big fan of Art Deco and so that Lew Davis, one not to mention the 'octagon' style trumpets, and ones such as the Rolls Diplomat very much catch my eye. From what little I can gather the Lew Davis one was sold by Trevor James somewhere around 2011 and I can't find a single other reference to that model of trumpet online.

It is very handy that these 'vintage' models don't seem to command high prices in the UK which make them fun and economical to collect as well.
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Halflip
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 30, 2021 1:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

If you like Art Deco, you might enjoy some of the bell engraving on premium 30's American horns:


King Silvertone (second series)


Conn 22B Symphony Special


Buescher Model 280 flugelhorn

And for something completely different (i.e., a really unique wrap):

York "Airflow" trumpet and cornet
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TriumphantTrumpeter
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 30, 2021 4:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Those are some beauties!

I particularly like the bracing and engraving on the King Silvertone. That is my kind of 'Bling' and your Buescher flugel is quite something. Is it sort of a frosted silver?

Only one of my Bueschers had the gold accenting on the silver plate and it's such a pale gold that, when I saw the photos before buying it I didn't even notice it and, in person, you can only really see it in certain lights. I had actually thought that the engravings on my two 235's were different patterns but, on closer inspection I realised that they were the same pattern except the scale of parts of the pattern was different and one had the gold accents, delicately frosted areas and a border pattern around the bell, like your flugel has where the other is plain silver.

To me these instrument speak of a time when things were crafted to not only do their job but to be works of art at the same time.
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Halflip
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 01, 2021 1:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

TriumphantTrumpeter wrote:
That is my kind of 'Bling' and your Buescher flugel is quite something. Is it sort of a frosted silver?


Yes, it's kind of a 'bead-blasted' finish, with shiny gold filling the engraving and shiny silver on the valve slides, etc. It came from the factory that way, but Charlie Melk restored it so that it is 'like new' vivid. Someone told me that it looks like a Christmas ornament, which I think is a very apt comparison.
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TriumphantTrumpeter
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 01, 2021 11:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Indeed I suppose the frosting does give it a bit of a Christmas ornament look. Certainly brings the gold out and gives the instrument a personality.

Those Yorks are quite wild looking. Hard to visualise what they are like in three dimensions from the picture.
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jrpbrass
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 06, 2023 12:27 pm    Post subject: Lew Davis Trumpets Reply with quote

This is an old thread, but I have been looking into the Lew Davis mouthpieces recently and thought I would add what I can on their trumpets.

Lew's brother Ben started the Henri Selmer Co Ltd in London in 1929 and was later joined by Lew after WWII. The source of any Lew Davis Autograph instrument probably matches those of the Selmer Lincoln or Invicta models, which were marked "Foreign". I doubt if they were made by Selmer in Paris but certainly from Europe. Likely West Germany or Amati is the source.

I found one other Davis trumpet marked "Lew Davis Autograph, Foreign, Patent 485347, The King Instrument Co Ltd, London" This one appears to have the valves set at an angle like the Selmer Radial model in the 1970s.

That example at the Trevor Jones site is certainly unique with its thunder bolt bell braces and offset valves like the Olds Recording, but it doesn't appear to be a professional-level model as it lacks any third slide adjustment. Horn-u-copia.net has no examples so they must be quite rare.
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Winghorn
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 06, 2023 3:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

For Art Deco, nothing beats the Conn 48B Vocabell with the rimless bell and “Pipes of Pan” engraving!
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