The base plates for the lyre and for the thumb ring of course is a give away for a B&S connection.
But then the B&S conglomerate had no virginal attitude about making its virtues in form of parts available to others. Not that I thought that this tuba came out of the Stuttgart tri-star production lines.
Joe's reply revealed a business connection yet unknown to me.
B&S says Blechblas- und Signalinstrumente, which means brass and signal instruments. After all they made refined duck-call type signal instruments for the GDR state railways.
The predecessor was Sächsische Musik-Instrumentenfabriken - VEB - Klingenthal/ Sa.
That says just about something like The Saxonian Musical Instruments' Factory - Owned by the People - Klingenthal/Saxonia. Klingenthal in itself says "The Resounding Valley".
As I interpret my sources, B&S is a circa 1965 construction.
The V in VMI refers to Vogtland, the south-west corner of Saxonia, also known as the musical triangle. The location of a lot of major brass makers in the adjacent areas of Saxonia, Bavaria, and Czechia reflects a very complex interaction of religious and political factors, which others have written on in other contexts. Still very sensitive factors to a lot of people still alive.
And the VMI construction belongs to the post-wall-fall era.
imperialbari wrote:B&S says Blechblas- und Signalinstrumente, which means brass and signal instruments. After all they made refined duck-call type signal instruments for the GDR state railways.
Aw, and here I thought B&S stood for "Blech und Schrott"...
Your horn looks identical to mine, a Sonora branded BBb 4vr.
Mine was identified by Bob Tucci as a stencil of a B&S/VMI PT1 horn, and was manufactured in East Germany in 1986.
Like you, I was interested in the origins of my stencil horn. It seems the same "PT1" horn was distributed under several brands including Sonora and Mercedes.
