The Tinplated Brass

 

 

 It's a special bond,
a love affair really,
that every musician forms
with their musical instrument.
 

Most often it starts
with the sound an instrument makes.
But players soon become attached
to their instrument's shape, its design,
and the material it's made of.

 

 

 

For brass instrumentalists
it's a combination of all of those qualities.
It's an affection for the shiny brass
and nickle silver tubing artfully twisted
into a curvaceous shape that lets the player's lips
sing a tone that no voice could match. 

Today I present four photographs of cornet players
who chose to have their picture taken
with the instrument they loved.
 

 

But their instruments are different
from modern cornets and trumpets,
as they are holding instruments
of two early American designs
now obsolete.

 

The photographs are also unusual
because each image was produced on sheet metal
as a unique tintype,
or more correctly called,
a ferrotype.

 

 

Eb and Bb cornets, top and side action,
1872 catalog, John F. Stratton Musical Instrument Co.,
New York City

Today the trumpet is the high brass instrument most people are familiar with. But in 19th century America it was the cornet that was the lead instrument in any brass band. Though they both use essentially the same design to amplify the sound of a player's vibrating lips, and are of the same length, the cornet has a slightly more conical flare to its tubing, while the trumpet is more cylindrical.  Pictured above are E-flat and B-flat cornets offered in 1872 by the  John F. Stratton Musical Instrument Co. of New York.

 

The earliest brass instruments were horns and bugles of a fixed length that were restricted to one musical key and a limited number of pitches. With the advent of the industrial age in the early 19th century, improved metal working techniques using new precision machinery inspired many innovations in brass instrument design. The most important development was a valve mechanism to instantly change the instrument's length and give the player a full chromatic scale. But instead of piston valves as seen on most modern trumpets and cornets, the first American musical instrument manufacturers like John F. Stratton chose to use three rotary valves. These were arranged in two different positions, either with the finger key action on top the cornet's wrap or on the side. 

 

In the catalog illustration the cornets on the left and top right use a top action rotary valve (TARV) where the player's right hand is placed atop the instrument, pressing down on small semi-circular keys that turn the valves. On the lower right is cornet with side action rotary valves (SARV) where the keys are longer and the cornet is held so that the tubing wrap is horizontal instead of vertical like on the TARV models. Each version had ergonomic advantages for the player but the sound produced was identical.

 

 

 

 

 

In this ferrotype photo a young man poses with his SARV cornet with one elbow resting on the photographer's imposing studio plinth. He's dressed in a nice three-piece suit and his hair looks freshly oiled by a barber, but it's difficult to judge his age, maybe between 15 and 20 years old. Since his cornet is typically 14 inches long, I calculate that his height is 4 times that length. making him around 4 ft - 9 in tall which suggests the younger age. 

 

Careful observers will notice that the boy's left hand is on the keys. This is because a tintype/ferrotype photograph is a positive image much like the reverse image made by a mirror. The light is reflected through a camera lens onto a photographic emulsion painted on thin metal sheet, typically made of iron but never, despite its name, of tin. It records a singular grey-tone image similar to the earlier daguerreotype and ambrotype photographs. Like those early photography mediums the ferrotype is a one of a kind and can't be duplicated. Later technology introduced cameras that made a negative image on glass plate or film which could be used to reproduce an infinite number of albumen photos.

    

Using modern digital software it's easy to reverse the image to give a proper realistic perspective of the boy. Now we can see that he parts his hair on the right. Even without the cornet the original photo can be recognized as a reverse mirror image just by looking at the buttons. On men's clothing, buttons are always on the right and buttonholes on the left, while women's garments are the reverse positions.

 

 

Eb cornets, side and top action
1868 catalog, Isaac Fiske Musical Instruments
Worcester, Massachusetts

 

The boy's cornet is an E-flat model which is shorter than the standard B-flat cornet and typically plays the high solo line in a brass band. In 1868 the Isaac Fiske Musical Instrument company of Worcester, Massachusetts offered models with either side action or top action valve made in either brass or German silver, which is a durable copper alloy using nickel and zinc to give a silver appearance while not containing actual silver. The Fiske catalog price was $55 / $65 for the SARV models and $60 / $70 for the TARV, which is roughly valued as between $1,200 and $1,425 in 2022 prices.

 

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

My second cornetist is a dapper looking fellow wearing a light weight summer suit with a straw boater hat. Similar to the previous ferrotype, the photographer has added a delicate pink tint to the man's cheeks. 

 

Compared to the earlier daguerreotype and ambrotype photos, the technique to make ferrotype photographs was relatively easy and fairly cheap to produce. First developed in France in 1853, a tintype method was patented in the United States in 1856, but the popularity of the medium began during the Civil War period, 1861-65,  and continued through the 1880s.

 

The process used thin iron sheets cut into various sized rectangles and then painted with a black japan solution which creates the tintype's distinctive dark background. The photographer then prepared each little "tin sheet" with a collodion emulsion, either wet or dry, that contained suspended silver halide crystals. After the exposure was made a photographic fixer made of potassium cyanide was applied. Later a tint or varnish might be added. For a skilled photographer the ferrotype method produced quick and appealing results for their customers.

 

 

 

When the image is reversed the cornet player looks correct to the eye of a modern brass player like myself since his instrument now corresponds to the ones in the Stratton and Fiske catalogs.

 

 

 

John F. Stratton Co. musical instrument display
1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition
Source: Free Library of Philadelphia: Philadelphia, PA.

For the 1876 Centennial Exhibition held in Philadelphia, the John F. Stratton Co. presented a large display containing a wide variety of instruments that they offered for sale. In this photo from the archives of the Free Library of Philadelphia we can see one side of a huge glass case is devoted just to brass instruments. Hanging inside are over-the-shoulder saxhorns in different sizes from treble to contrabass along with  multiple upright bass horns, trombones, French horns, and helicons. It was the great era of American expansion and brass bands were going to lead the way.

 

 

 

Eb cornets, side and top action
1868 catalog, Boston Musical Instrument Co.

 

Today most trumpet players use either B-flat or C trumpets for solo work. But in American brass bands during the 1860s and 1870s, the higher E-flat cornet was considered the premier solo brass instrument. In 1869 the Boston Musical Instrument Company promoted the E-flat cornet in both a SARV and TARV model as the choice of virtuoso cornetists. Perhaps knowing that many musicians can't resist a challenge the company shrewdly warned that the E-flat was "perhaps the most difficult to bring under control; it requires great strength of lip and strength of lungs  together with many years of practice to to make a good Eb Cornet player."  This copy writer knew how to charm a musician's heart.

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

This next cornet player has a side action B-flat cornet which he holds across his chest as he gazes directly into the camera lens. I think he looks about 18-20 years old. I've left this image uncorrected in its original raw state to show the faded tone which is like many tintypes, very dark, (though not as dark as some can be.) The chemistry of early photography was more akin to alchemy, and it took skill and art to concoct a proper emulsion and place a subject in just the right amount of light. Very often photographers worked outside using natural sunlight and I think that was the case here where the background is a canvas sheet.

 

When the image is corrected for contrast and reversed it demonstrates the qualities that made it superior. The camera focus is clear with a good depth of field. Even though the plate has numerous scratches, has lost some emulsion, and even developed a bit of rust it still makes a very realistic portrait. 

 

 

 

 

 * * *

 

 

 

My last "tinplated" cornet player is preserved in a paper envelope that is not common to find with a ferrotype photograph. Like the previous young man, this musician is also staring into the camera lens as he holds his B-flat cornet in one hand and a folio of music in the other. He's clean shaven, a bit older, perhaps in his early 20s. He wears a dark coat with light seersucker vest and wool trousers with a stripe on the leg. It can't say if that stripe makes it a military uniform as there are no other insignia of rank or unit visible. But in any case, he is very well dressed.

The size of the paper mount is 2 3⁄8 inch × 3 7⁄8 inch (60 mm × 98 mm) while the photo is about 2 inch by 3 inch. After it was placed into the paper frame a smaller paper rectangle was pasted on the back to secure it.

 

 

 

The iron rust spots show that the paper is authentic with the little photo and it offers one small clue. Along one edge is embossed:

Potter's Patent March 7, 1865

 

 

 

 

This mark was for Ray W. Potter, New York, NY who received patent No. 46,699 for a “Picture-Card Frame” which he sold from his shop in New York as an inexpensive substitute for the more expensive hard shell cases used for daguerreotypes and sometimes ferrotypes. Mr. Potter's shop also sold those along with his paper mattes as he was a supplier to the photographic trade. But it doesn't link this cornet player to New York or even 1865 since the photographer might be anywhere.  It does however give a better idea of when it was taken, roughly sometime after the end of the Civil War, and most likely by a photographer in the Boston, New York, Philadelphia area.

 

 

 

Once again when the ferrotype photo is reversed
the cornet looks correct and another nameless musician
is rescued from the mirror universe. 

 

  

The nature of tintype/ferrotype photos did not leave any room for annotations or photographer's marks. Occasionally a date might be scratched on the back of the sheet metal or the paper mount or thermoplastic case might have a note attached. But they are very rare to find. This makes identification of ferrotype photos very difficult to impossible beyond just broad time periods and locations.

There were specially made cameras that on a single exposure could take twelve small ferrotype photos, postage stamp size 3⁄4 by 1-inch, called "gems". But each one had subtle difference of perspective based on its position behind the lens. There were also cameras that used a mirror or right-angle prism to reverse the mirror effect but examples of those are rare. There is one in my 2018 story The Big Brass which features  tintypes of the early over-the-shoulder bass saxhorns.

 

 

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According to my blog counter, this story marks my 600th post for TempoSenzaTempo. When I began this blog back on 14 December 2009, with my aptly titled, The first post, I had no expectation that I would write so many stories, much less amass the number of musician's photos and postcards that are now in my collection. All I wanted was to tell the internet world about a few interesting musical photographs that I had found. A year and a bit later on 8 January 2011, I discovered Alan Burnett's wonderful blogger digest, Sepia Saturday. I left this comment on Sepia Saturday #56, "Great website. I hope I can contribute from time to time."  As they say, "the rest is history".

 

Now 565 Saturdays later, (I have skipped a few Saturdays) I know I've displayed countless more photos and postcards than just 600. I continue to take inspiration from Alan's themes every weekend and I take great delight in meeting other bloggers at his virtual pub to share old photos and stories. Thank you, Alan, and thank you, Sepia Saturday bloggers, present and past, for your friendship. I can't say what my final blog number will be, but I have a long way to go before I write The Last Post.   There are a LOT of photos in my collection and every one has a story that needs telling.

 

 

 

 

 

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday

where watching the world go by

is always a treat.