Some time after the American tour of 1849, Henry John Distin (1819–1903), the second son of John and Ann Matilda. established his own instrument manufacturing and sales concern, Distin &amp; Co., in London. He sold Adolph Sax's instruments alongside his own traditional brass instruments. He was awarded a prize medal for the superiority of his instruments over European competitors at the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1867.