Found in a basement two doors down from an antique shop. Taken home on a handshake.
Restoration project
Get A Grip & More, in Washington, New Jersey, is the kind of shop you can lose an afternoon in: tools, antiques, furniture, electronics, and a sidewalk full of flowers planted in old kettles and iron pots. I asked the owner if he had any musical instruments. He pointed me to the back of the first room, where I found two tired trumpets. One had been made into a lamp. The other wasn't much better.
I gave him my card and asked him to call if any more brass came through. He said he had more, in his warehouse. I'd come a long way, so I asked if I could see them. He looked around, saw the store was quiet, and said, "Follow me."
The warehouse was two doors down, in a basement full of cabinets and boxes. He showed me several trumpets, and a beautiful flugelhorn he wouldn't sell because his father had given it to him. Then he remembered an old trumpet he had somewhere, and spent twenty minutes finding it. It was a King Silvertone, made by the H.N. White Company of Cleveland. The serial number puts it at 1938 or 1939.
I wasn't shopping for a horn. I offered to restore it for him, so he'd have something he could play or sell. He said no, and fairly: if he paid me, he had no guarantee he'd ever get his money back. It could sit there for years.
A few minutes later I tried again. I'd take the horn home, fix it up as best I could, and bring it back. It seemed like an interesting project for both of us. He lit up, we agreed to partner on it, and we shook on it.
Before
The work
The bell was the obvious problem. It had been crushed in on one side and folded down into the throat. I worked the crumple out until the bell was round again. Look inside and you can still see where it was.
The main tuning slide was stuck solid. I've run into that before on this same model. In the end I had to unsolder a good many parts to free it, then put the horn back together.
The second valve casing was bent out of shape, so I realigned it. The valves themselves are nickel, and they were perfect. After eighty-five years, they were the one part that needed nothing.
Then the cleaning, which is where the engraving comes back. It's pure Art Deco: sunbursts, stepped diamonds, and "King Silvertone" across the bell, finished in two tones the way King designed it.
After
Going home
The horn goes back to the shop in a couple of weeks. If you're looking for a vintage King, you know where it'll be.
Vintage, modern, student or professional. I work on all of it. Most repairs are done the same afternoon.