Olds Trombone Flare with Special Engraving
This is certainly a one of a kind piece of F.E. Olds and Son history.
The story that came with it is plausible, but is third hand with no way
of verifying it. I purchased this from Dick Plimpton, son of Roe
Plimpton, who had worked for Olds from about 1930 until the early
1960s. Dick told me that Roe had acquired it during or right after
WWII. During the war, most of the factory's capacity was taken up
with production for the war effort, producing very few musical
instruments. One of the engravers did not have any engraving work
to do and wanted to keep his skills honed for when he was put back
to that work. He probably spent many hours decorating this bell flare
just to please himself and certainly never could have dreamed that it
would be shown where anybody in the whole world could take a look
at it.
The engraving covers the entire outside surface of this bell excepting
the tone ring and rim. The three girls are the focus of the design, but
the rest is covered with flowers, leaves and butterflies. Then the
entire background was filled in with fan shaped texture, looking
almost like engine turning seen on automobiles. If this flare were
ever mounted on a trombone the brace flange and tuning slide ferrule
would cover portions of the engraving, so we are fortunate that this
bell has always been kept as an art piece rather than trombone bell.
The engraver must have rendered this from a photograph of the three
girls, otherwise, I would assume there was very little work getting
done in his department for the duration. The hair styles are very
much from that time and I can imagine that LaVerne, Maxine and
Patti, the Andrews Sisters were an inspiration.
Dale Olson suspects that this was engraved by Leonard Garcia, who
had started working at Olds as an engraver in about 1945. Dale has a
Mendez trumpet bell that is similarly covered with engraving and
never mounted on an instrument, the same as in this case. Perhaps
Leonard engraved this to prove his abilities to the master engraver
that had preceded him and was nearing retirement by that time.
Also notable, is the fact that this bell is very heavy, the wall thickness
measuring .031" at the small end and .025" in the flare, which is
much thicker than in the early Super Olds bells. When it was
introduced in about 1935, the Super Olds model was never engraved
as an option because the bell was made of a very thin wall red brass
which was not ideal for engraving. In later years, Olds made the
Super bells of thicker brass but still never engraved.
Click on images for larger views.
The story that came with it is plausible, but is third hand with no way
of verifying it. I purchased this from Dick Plimpton, son of Roe
Plimpton, who had worked for Olds from about 1930 until the early
1960s. Dick told me that Roe had acquired it during or right after
WWII. During the war, most of the factory's capacity was taken up
with production for the war effort, producing very few musical
instruments. One of the engravers did not have any engraving work
to do and wanted to keep his skills honed for when he was put back
to that work. He probably spent many hours decorating this bell flare
just to please himself and certainly never could have dreamed that it
would be shown where anybody in the whole world could take a look
at it.
The engraving covers the entire outside surface of this bell excepting
the tone ring and rim. The three girls are the focus of the design, but
the rest is covered with flowers, leaves and butterflies. Then the
entire background was filled in with fan shaped texture, looking
almost like engine turning seen on automobiles. If this flare were
ever mounted on a trombone the brace flange and tuning slide ferrule
would cover portions of the engraving, so we are fortunate that this
bell has always been kept as an art piece rather than trombone bell.
The engraver must have rendered this from a photograph of the three
girls, otherwise, I would assume there was very little work getting
done in his department for the duration. The hair styles are very
much from that time and I can imagine that LaVerne, Maxine and
Patti, the Andrews Sisters were an inspiration.
Dale Olson suspects that this was engraved by Leonard Garcia, who
had started working at Olds as an engraver in about 1945. Dale has a
Mendez trumpet bell that is similarly covered with engraving and
never mounted on an instrument, the same as in this case. Perhaps
Leonard engraved this to prove his abilities to the master engraver
that had preceded him and was nearing retirement by that time.
Also notable, is the fact that this bell is very heavy, the wall thickness
measuring .031" at the small end and .025" in the flare, which is
much thicker than in the early Super Olds bells. When it was
introduced in about 1935, the Super Olds model was never engraved
as an option because the bell was made of a very thin wall red brass
which was not ideal for engraving. In later years, Olds made the
Super bells of thicker brass but still never engraved.
Click on images for larger views.
