Boosey & Co. was established by Thomas Boosey in 1816. In 1934 the Hawkes & Son firm merged with
them to form the now well-known Boosey & Hawkes. The instrument shown has Distin markings as well as Boosey,
reflecting the c.1868 buyout of Henry Distin in London. This horn was manufactured in the last few weeks of
the operations of the old Distin factory at Great Newport Street, in 1876.
According to the firm's archives, the valves were made by "Derkinderen" on Jan. 15, 1876. The instrument was built
by "Cook", and given to the polisher on Feb. 7.
This Eb cornet was made to High Pitch. The crook shown was used to change it from a soprano cornet to
a so-called vocal cornet in C. Each valve's slide is etched with a line to where it should be pulled out for
use in C. The water key spring (most likely broken) was replaced with a circular spring (!) before I acquired
it.
