Cornet. Brass tubing with silver plating. Three Samson finger slide piston valves. One crook with floral designs engraved around the mouthpiece receiver sleeve. Mouthpiece missing. Bell is engraved: Prize Medal/1862/Patent/RUDALL ROSE CARTE & Co./20/CHARING CROSS/LONDON/No 753; The numbers 1, 2 and 3 are engraved on the caps of the respective valves. Samson's 'finger-slide' valves have pistons that move in a tube that continues into the windway at both ends. It is difficult to identify any real advantages for this system, but these instruments have a high standard of workmanship and elegant design.
In 1862, George Robert Samson patented the 'Finger Slide' valve, a system which was improved by C. A. Goodison and sold by Rudall Rose Carte & Co. as the 'Prize Medal Valve' system. The windway was a direct extension out of the bottom of the valve casing, and the valve itself extended into the windway. The system was expensive to produce, difficult to maintain, and was gradually discontinued. It is difficult to identify any real advantages for this system, but these instruments have a high standard of workmanship and elegant design. This instrument is the earliest surviving example of a Samson valve cornet.
