One day in late February 2005 I get this email, for a second time...
Mr. Donaldson
I wrote to you in mid February regarding my father's Benge trumpet and sent pictures showing its #500 serial number.
Yesterday we found in his attic a thick and amazing scrap book containing memorabilia from dad's early grade school years clear through his graduate studies at Eastman School of Music. We were hoping to find a receipt for the purchase of his trumpet. We did better than that. We found and have in our possession a signed letter with postmarked envelope from Elden Benge himself. The letter, which is typed on Elden Benge letterhead (from when he lived at 2634 Berwyn Avenue), reads as follows:
Dear Mr. S;
I hope you will pardon my neglect to write you sooner and acknowledge your payment for the Benge trumpet #500. I have been very busy working on the trumpets, and also playing at a radio station.
I am very happy to learn that you like the trumpet and sincerely hope it still meets your approval.
Lacquered brass seems to be the style for trumpets today although I prefer silver-plating. If you wish to have it plated at any time I shall be glad to have it done for you at cost, which price is $5.00 including a gold burnished bell.
With best personal regards, I remain
Sincerely Yours
{signed Elden Benge}
The postmark on the envelope, which is over a 3 cent George Washington stamp, is "42 CHICAGO ILL. Aug 10 12pm 1936". The date on the letter itself is Aug 10, 1932. We suspect that Mr. Benge intended to date the letter with the year 1936.
We believe this letter and the trumpet it refers to, to be of considerable importance, not to mention value, to trumpet collectors and music historians, judging by the information you and others have published on the web.
If the veracity of these claims is in doubt, perhaps you could direct us to a trusted authority in the southeastern part of Michigan (we live in Oakland County), maybe a brass expert from the DSO or the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, with whom we could meet in order to share and verify this remarkable find.
We remain respectfully yours,
D. and R. S.
And then, the pictures arrived....
So, what do you think? the first Benge trumpet?
For more on this, go to Joe Lill's excellent Chicago Benge page on this horn (with some additional photos).
© 2001-2006 by James F.
Donaldson
All rights reserved