Toy Trumpet
date: label: date made
content: late 19th century
name: label: maker
content: unknown
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: As more American volunteer fire fighting companies began to form during the late 18th century, a need emerged for better organized efforts in combating conflagrations. Engineers and officers would use “speaking trumpets” to amplify their voices over the noise and commotion of a fire scene to direct the company in effectively fighting the blaze. Two trumpet variants are reflected in the collection: plain and functional “working” trumpets that were actively used at fires, and highly decorated “presentation” trumpets. Presentation trumpets were awarded to firefighters in honor of their service, or between fire companies during visits, competitions, and musters.
label: Description (Brief)
content: This silver plated toy speaking trumpet was manufactured during the late 19th century. The trumpet has a braided beige cord that is tied to the trumpet next to the mouthpiece and the bell. The plain silver trumpet has a pseudo hallmark stamped into the shaft. British hallmarks served to denote the maker, date, purity of silver, and other information about a sterling silver piece. The mark on this trumpet does not correlate to any known maker, meaning they were likely done by an undocumented American maker to imitate the British marks.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Fire Fighting and Law Enforcement
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content: Cultures & Communities
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content: Work
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content: Firefighting Collection
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content: Speaking Trumpets
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of CIGNA Museum and Art Collection
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2005.0233.0873
label: accession number
content: 2005.0233
label: catalog number
content: 2005.0233.0873
objectType: label: Object Name
content: trumpet, speaking
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: silver plated (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 10 3/4 in x 4 1/2 in; 27.305 cm x 11.43 cm