Bb Cornet with Bell Over the Shoulder by Louis Schreiber, New York

This is a horn for only the serious collector, being extremely rare and appearing very rough.  The current owner, Eric Totman, had to outbid a number of other very serious collectors to acquire this and I know that he doesn't regret it.  

It was not nearly as bad as it appeared, although the restoration was very costly due to the missing parts that had to be remade.  It was missing the entire tuning mouthpipe assembly, the curved and tapered tube following that and the entire water valve and lever assembly.  Beyond that, only a few small screws had to be remade as well.  The dent removal and patching was straightforward and the valves are very well preserved.   As you can see in the second photo below, the large "teardrop" shaped tubing is structural and decorative but not acoustic.

During the short existence of his factory, Louis Schreiber made all popular sizes of instruments in this shape, from Eb soprano to Eb tuba.  The last two photos below are of an alto, also in the Eric Totman collection and a baritone or bass horn in Bb, owned by Jeff Stockham. 

Be sure to check out the Schreiber Bb cornet with bell front on another page.