Lafayette Couesnon Trumpet

Description

Historical Background
By 1911, Couesnon had expanded to eleven factories and more than 1000 workers, meeting the needs of many performing groups and military bands. During this time the products were highly sought after and were played by many of the virtuosos at the time. To get a sense of this, take a look at the
Couesnon 1915 Catalog
. Although they made virtually any musical instrument, during the 1930s they began catering to "Fanfare bands" (marching brass bands very popular at the time), and gradually became almost the only supplier of marching brass instruments in France. At this same time, prior to the war, the Couesnon trumpet factory in Paris was located right next door to the F. Besson trumpet factory, where the premiere trumpets prior to World War II were made. Curiously, the Couesnon trumpets of the time look virtually identical to the F. Besson models.
In 1969 the main factory in Château Thierry was badly damaged by fire, destroying the archives. In 1978, the contract with Gretch to import Couesnon instruments to the United States was terminated and new Couesnon instruments have been very rare in the US since that time.
The fire resulted in loss of all the company records, including those which would make it possible to determine the exact year of manufacture from the serial number.
Although today the company has only 25 employees working in its sole shop in Château Thierry, Couesnon is still in business. In 1999, the French drum maker P.G.M. bought the name, the tooling, and the factory to give it new life. The company is now known as P.G.M. Cousenon. Their most popular products are hunting horns and tambour drums mainly for the French market.