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I accidentally stumbled upon this instrument on German ebay, where it is incorrectly described as either a Schalmei or a Helikon. It so happens that my band has two of these things hanging on the wall (I have tried playing them and they really sound awful) but nobody seems to know what instruments these are nor where they came from.

Does anyone here know what these things are called?

Bass schalmei

It seems inappropriate to call this a schalmei, since that original instrument (also called a shawm) was made of wood and did not have multiple bells.
http://wendemuseum.wordpress.com/2008/0 ... et="_blank
But evidently these modern brass versions became a fad in certain countries, why, I don't know, because an audio clip posted some time ago reminded me of the name of another obsolete instrument, the racket.

There are some pretty good ensembles from Austria and Baveria - the youtubes are not too painful! (Lacking good Internet connection right now, will add URLs later.)

pgym wrote:Bass schalmei

This is quite interesting. The instruments in our band room have been fitted with baritone mouthpieces instead of those metallic double "reeds" - which is why they sound like a saxophone that is played using a brass mouthpiece.