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http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0761214647

The engraved name is new to me. The doubling of the main bugle as a shoulder support was seen in British and Czech Eb sousaphones.

The valve block is a European type as the valve branches enter and exit on the same side of the casing.

Klaus

The name is probably Diston. I would guess that the instrument is imported as well.

And I thought I was the sight impaired one!

The name engraved is Ditsen, which as a name is very, very rare. So rare that I never saw it before. The same goes for most other family names in this world, but this one is interesting for me, as its structure is uniquely Danish/North German. It may be an abbreviation of Ditlevsen or Ditleffsen.

I never thought this was an American design, but there must have been some business by this name. The engraving appears being a bit elaborate for a one-off prank.

Klaus

I've been searching for information on this, and the closest match I can find is the Oliver Ditson Co. of Boston, MA. A lot of interesting history there! Worth checking out. The engraving may be quirky in the manner of the old J.W. York & Sons engraving, which is often thought (by people unfamiliar with the York company) to say "Y.M. Dork & Sons" or some such (there were a number of York auctions a few years ago that were labelled that way).

Much of the reading problems, like the Dork error, comes from younger people (75% or maybe far more of the population) being educated in efficient school systems not having the time to teach script or old typesets like what we call the Gothic alphabet. I don’t like the latter, especially not in handwriting, but I can read it.

As for Ditsen versus Ditson, there is no way at all to interpret the present engraving as Ditson. Considering the general American approach of a very liberal spelling of names, I even tend to distrust the Ditson links provided by Google until I am presented with a high resolution documentation of a Ditson engraving.

Still I am aware about the potential solution to the diversity that Ditsen is the original family name, whereas Ditson may be the later Americanized version.

Klaus

I have a valve trombone... very old... Oliver Ditson. There's no mistaking the engraving.