1929 "The Olds" LM Bb trumpet - SN 119 SOLD

                                                                               SOLD

This is a 1929   Olds trumpet made during the first year of Olds trumpet production.  There was only one model at the time and as the catalog that is shown above indicates, this trumpet was available in Medium, Large-Medium, and Large bore.  We've seen different marking s on the bell and valve casing for some of these early trumpets indicating that there was an option for a different bore as well as bell size.  This trumpet is marked ML (with the "M" directly above the "L" on the second valve casing with "LM" engraved on the bell flare.  

The bell engraving reads:

                                                                               Made by

                                                                     F.E. Olds and Son Inc

                                                                    Los Angeles, Calif.

                                                                                   LM

There is also floral engraving on the bell and F.E. OLDS & SON engraved in Olds English style on the valve casing.  

Another interesting feature of  these early Olds are that it has solid top caps (no felts) and larger finger buttons than later Olds trumpets.  It also has a different valve guide mechanism.  A year or so after this trumpet was made, Olds changed both the top caps and the valve guides to the style used for the remainder of the Los Angeles (and some of the Fullerton) production.

This trumpet has the signature Mother of Pearl pull knobs on the slides and the trombone waterkey on the tuning slide, but there is no waterkey on the third slide nor is there a push rod or method to extend the third slide.  As noted in the catalog, "This instrument is built with a perfect scale, thus eliminating the necessity of equipping it with the bothersome extra slide for favoring the low C sharpe"

The silver plating on this trumpet is in very good condition and all indications are that it is original plating.  There is some minor wear to the plating, but there are no indication of any major dent work or solder repairs.  There are a number of small nicks and flaws as shown in the photos.   The plating on the valve pistons is good and the horn has good compression.  

The trumpet comes with a good hard case, but it is  not original to this horn.  However, the trumpet does come with an early Olds mouthpiece in good condition.  The mouthpiece is stamped "OLDS" on one side of the shank and "5 S" on the other side.

 At present, this is the 4th lowest serial number trumpet recorded in the Olds Register and is the lowest recorded silver plated trumpet.

While we have shown this as being made in 1929, based on its early number as well as higher serial numbers that were also made in 1929, we uncovered some interesting history about it:

Olds trumpet SN 119 was sold on 30 June 1930 to Ben Lichentenstein, it was pure LM, LM, LM, leadpipe, valve and bell "bores".  Strangely, the same horn was sold again on 31 March 1931, with no explanation.  

"Benny" Lichtenstein was a "master" trombone maker who worked for Olds from 1920 until 1942. 

So while the serial numbers were very likely stamped in 1929, it is possible that the person placing the original order did not complete the purchase or that there was some other delay in completion of the trumpet resulting in a sale to an Olds employee in June of 1930. 

This trumpet is being sold as part of the extensive trumpet collection of famed  west coast studio trumpet player Rick Baptist and will come with a hand written note from Rick describing the history of this horn  and his association with the previous owner, George Werth, also a prolific studio trumpet player, who played on countless well known recordings in the 1950's and 60's.