The instrument of the month is a beautiful Trumpet in G/F by the Besson Company (Paris). It is a silver instrument with the Besson trademark on the bell and “F. Besson Breveté SGDG Paris (graphic of a star) “. The switch to “F” is accomplished with one main tuning slide. The receiver takes a standard trumpet mouthpiece. The Besson Company either makes more than one model of bell or has change bell sizes of the instrument. The bell on the silver instrument is 4 inches in diameter. Another Besson G/F trumpet no longer in the collection did have a larger bell. This instrument was made around 1973/4 and was a high school graduation present (a kind and wonderful gift) to Bruce Barrie from his uncle Jack Cosier who was an American executive working in Paris, France at that time. The instrument has been used both as a solo instrument and in the playing of numerous Bach cantatas when Bruce was living in Philadelphia PA. It is a cherished instrument even if it does not have the opportunity to give voice as often as it should.
The Besson Company (Paris) began in 1834 under the direction of Gustave Auguste Besson ( b Paris 1820; d Paris 1874). Over the years many fine instruments have been made. Edward Tarr (The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments) cites the “prototype” steel mandrel process developed in 1856 “marked the birth of the modern instrument manufacture” ; it certainly enabled them to make many fine and consistent instruments. The Besson Company are now part of the Buffet Group.

Of Interest:
Besson Company
http://www.besson.com/en
Vintage Besson- Meha Story
http://www.vintagetrumpets.com/meha.shtml
Archival information on Besson trumpets
http://homepages.ed.ac.uk/am/gdnj.html

Some information taken from:
An Index of Musical Wind Instrument Makers by Lyndesay G. Langwill
The Cornet Compendium- The History and Development of the Nineteenth-Century Cornet by Richard I. Schwartz