Courtois Paris (1960's)

Courtois Cornet
Archived Collection Piece: This instrument is no longer held in the physical collection.

This B♭ cornet, manufactured by the historic French firm Antoine Courtois, was likely produced in the 1960s, as indicated by its serial number 7642. When the instrument first arrived in my collection, it featured a highly unusual and bizarre modification: a previous owner had entirely replaced the original mouthpipe with transparent plastic tubing. To restore the instrument's visual and mechanical integrity, I commissioned a proper repair, meaning the current mouthpipe (leadpipe) and water key are non-original replacements. Aside from this specialized restoration, the cornet remains in excellent physical and cosmetic condition. Acoustically, it possesses superb playing qualities and functions beautifully across its registers. Because it is in such wonderful playing shape and my musical focus does not center on the cornet, I ultimately decided it would be best to let it go to a dedicated player who could appreciate its full potential.