Seems like someone was taking advantage of your Dad. I can't imagine that an over 40 year old high pitch horn would be worth that much of his wages.

Piston horns seem to be more of a curiosity than a coveted instrument.  I think they are generally criticized as being stuffy.  Not being a horn player, I don't know whether that is a valid criticism or not.  I once had a military issue Conn piston horn.  When I sold it, it went to Europe.  Seemed like the Europeans were more interested in the pistons than those in this country,

2  I still have it and play it occasionally.

Mine doesn't fit any of these catagories.......the horn I played in High School Bach TR200S is now being played by my daughter who is now in Junior HIgh....she's been using it for 3 years now.

I apologize.  My interests changed for a while and I haven't even looked at this site for a long time.  But that is not real important.

I did not have my own horn growing up: used school horns through junior high and high school.  I played 'baritone.'  I remember it, or them as Conn.  I have a similar one now, but made too late to be period correct. 

But I do have my father's York mellophone, my mother's Martin trumpet, an American Standard baritone that belonged to a cousin of my father and my little brother's cornet (Conn?) 

And my one son's Yamaha YEP321 euph.  My other son has his Meinl-Weston tuba.  Grandchildren coming up.

I'm not much of a player of anything, TubaChristmas mostly.

alfred

#1
I'm still playing the Meinl Weston CC tuba I got in '67 at Indiana U.  I bought the Glier helicon about a year ago, and it's future with me is still to be decided!

Because of the following, I am partial to the I am glad its gone category.  I owned a Lafayette trumpet that had been used and abused by my brothers before it came to me.  It was a model from the 1930's, was au natural to the point of turning green and had been bent 'closed' halfway down the bell.  My father was able to reform the bell into a passable shape and emoried the mouthpiece to rid it of burrs on the lip surface.  I used wooden doweling, sheet lead and muscle (9 year old's) to improve upon its shape and 0 through 0000 steel wool to make it shine.  It did look better but was a source of shame to me (my family had aspirations that were contagious I guess).
  After trying to learn on this humbling sticking valved French P.O.S. for 2 years, my music teacher mercifully switched me to a schools baritone horn.  Half a century later I decided to take up the trumpet again and with joyful abandon have compensated a bit by becoming a collector as well as a comeback player.  Currently my mostly vintage stock of select professional level trumpets, cornets (and a hand full of flugelhorns) have increased to nearly 7 dozen specimens.  My playing, even at my age, improves steadily and I not only find joy in playing, but in the artistry of the instruments as well as their company's and designers' histories.  Further, it expands to the history of brasswinds , their development back from the points of their inceptions , etc.  .So, maybe that French abomination turned out to be 'not so bad'  in the long run.
But I'll never buy one!