Courtois Koenig's Model Cornets, 1850s

Antoine Courtois had the advantage of being born into a brass instrument making family and he went on to become the most successful and innovative member.  He established his workshop in 1844 and soon became a specialist in cornets à pistons that were popular with soloists including Koenig, Arban, Levy, Reynolds and Arbuckle among many others.  The original Koenig's model was built with Stoelzel valves (usually called "cornopean" in English) and then with Perinet valves as in this example by 1855.  Matthew Arbuckle was greatly influenced by Koenig when he heard him play in Boston in the 1860s and eventually switched from his previously favorite Fiske cornet to one made by Courtois.

This particular cornet had obviously had a very hard life and restoration work was extensive.  Several parts had to be made including crooks and the waterkey.  It was then silverplated.  The last photo shows another variation of the Koenig's Model Courtois cornet.  Niles Eldredge, in his quest to assemble a list of known Courtois instruments, named the first “Koenig’s Model #1” and the second “Koenig’s Model #2”. As the list grew, it became obvious that the variations were made contemporaneously. The latter became the pattern for the Levy's and Arbuckle's models and copies made by many other makers for decades to come.  This example retains it's original silver plating, shanks and crooks.   Both of these cornets are in the collection of Tom Meacham.

Below are photos of two more (earlier) Courtois Koenig’s Model cornets. Earlier Courtois valves assemblies had ferrules between the casings. Each casing was made separately and then assembled. Eventually, the last one pictured below surfaced with the earliest known serial number in this model and was made shortly after the 1855 Paris Exposition. In spite of being the earliest example, it was named by Niles Eldridge “Koenig’s Model #3. We can think of these model designations indicating abundance of known examples rather than chronologic. This rarest of Koenig’s Model designs has the same tubing design as the later Arban’s Model that first appeared in about 1872. The Koenig’s model seems to have been discontinued about the same time.