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Can anyone attach a date to this logo? The five digit serial number on the valve section suggests mid-1904 but I'm not sure the bell is correct.

Ah, yes. The famous "Clothed Lady" Conn.

emcallaway wrote:Ah, yes. The famous "Clothed Lady" Conn.

bloke wrote:Conn filled many custom engraving requests, many of which were one-off...

Here's a double-belled euphonium...

The artistry of that engraving is absolutely stunning.

Wow that's absolutely gorgeous, kinda makes me wish modern instruments had such engravings.

TubaTinker wrote:The five digit serial number on the valve section suggests mid-1904 but I'm not sure the bell is correct.

The "Conn Ltd" says 1915+ and the background with the globe sure looks "Pan American";
A 5-digit PanAm number would just be before c.1933...

What's with the horse shoe on her knee??

I thinks it's just supposed to be the patella.

Hi-
I remember going to a Historic Brass Society meeting years back at Amherst College and attended a lecture given by Dr Margaret Downey Banks ( Peggy) from the National Music Museum and Conn author regarding engraving and the naked lady on Conn's. It was very entertaining. Apparently, if there was Union or contract problems at the plant, the naked lady was not very well ''endowed' but in good times, the engraved naked lady has ample cleavage (I kid you not!). Her talk included power point presentations of various examples. One of my favorite lectures of all time.
Mark

windshieldbug wrote:

TubaTinker wrote:The five digit serial number on the valve section suggests mid-1904 but I'm not sure the bell is correct.

The "Conn Ltd" says 1915+ and the background with the globe sure looks "Pan American";
A 5-digit PanAm number would just be before c.1933...

It turns out that the valve cluster on this horn is not Conn and only the bell is Conn. That could really change things. There is a fair chance that the cluster is York. What I don't know is whether it's from a Grand Rapids York (around 1930) or a European York 'master' of a much later era.

Regarding my original post/question....

This really isn't much of a mystery anymore. The body is Grand Rapids York but the bell is a large 1915-ish Conn Eb. The engraving represents the Panama-Pacific Exposition.

bisontuba wrote:Hi-
I remember going to a Historic Brass Society meeting years back at Amherst College and attended a lecture given by Dr Margaret Downey Banks ( Peggy) from the National Music Museum and Conn author regarding engraving and the naked lady on Conn's.

HA!!

We called our naked (well, cleavage anyway) lady tuba "Peggy!!"

TubaTinker wrote:Regarding my original post/question....

This really isn't much of a mystery anymore. The body is Grand Rapids York but the bell is a large 1915-ish Conn Eb. The engraving represents the Panama-Pacific Exposition.

Do you have a photo of the whole tuba to post...? Just to satisfy everyone's curiosity...but mostly mine...

This is the one in the last couple of pages under the Frankentubas topic. It is the super cool one that isn't a Gnagey, Art's 20j, or mine.

Tubajug wrote: Do you have a photo of the whole tuba to post...? Just to satisfy everyone's curiosity...but mostly mine...

Here you go, Jordan...

So how does it play?