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Hello! I've been trying to track down a particular type of early BB helicon, possibly made by Ignaz Stowasser of Vienna. Does anyone know where I might start my search? I'd like to purchase one if at all possible.

Specifically, I'm looking for a similar horn to what Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the Sherlock Holmes stories, would have played. Conan Doyle went to a boarding school in Austria as a teen and played the "bombardon" in the band. The links at the bottom are some photos, including a shot from 1876 of the ensemble Conan Doyle played in.

Apparently he really liked being a tuba player - I'm sure we can all relate. Here's a little poem he wrote home to his mom, titled "The Song of the Bombardier":

There is an instrument whose power
Does all others far surpass
Far o'er the rest one sees him tower
A mighty instrument of brass

The soundest sleeper, far or near,
I think would scarcely slumber on,
If close to his unconscious ear
You played upon the Bombardon

https://www.dropbox.com/s/anavb0llev7vu ... 6.jpg?dl=0" target="_blank" target="_blank
https://www.dropbox.com/s/iomdfnikqe4tw ... r.jpg?dl=0" target="_blank" target="_blank

That looks like an "instrument of mass destruction"

No bell flare at all. I doubt it would have diffused the sound to any great degree.

This type of tuba would have been around when John Philip Sousa directed the U.S. Marine Band. ISTR he went for the opposite effect- maximum diffusion- when he conceived the original Sousaphone whose bell pointed upward, which we now call the Raincatcher.

I can't help you find a Stowasser. However thank you for posting such a fascinating story concerning the Helicon and the historic picture.

I think Mr. Uwe Schneider can help you, he is a good source for helicons in Europe.
http://schneideruwe.de/tubashop.html" target="_blank

Good luck with the search.

Thanks for your responses, guys! I've sent an email to Mr. Schneider in Germany. I'll update you if I make any progress

musicnorthcott wrote:Thanks for your responses, guys! I've sent an email to Mr. Schneider in Germany. I'll update you if I make any progress

Wow - if you find one you have got to post a clip of how it sounds!

Great info on Conan Doyle.