Dear Friends --

Last week the devil made me buy a pair of old & damaged Geyer-wrap double French horns with no markings other than Indiana on the upper bell throat (or lower bell tail, depending on how you think of it). 

Right below the Indiana marking are 3-digit numbers, which I take to be serial numbers of the instruments (178 & 186). 

What caught my attention & led me to make the purchase is the fact that they are Geyer-style horns (the kind with the 4th valve over next to the 3rd valve, thumb-operated by a linkage that reaches across the top of the 1-2-3 valves cylinders). 

The eBay seller did not know much about the origin of the horns -- who made them, where, when, etc.  The seller did mention (when I asked) that Indiana Band Instrument Co. was part of Martin Band Instruments, Elkhart, Indiana.

Elsewhere on Horn-U-Copia, there is a table listing Indiana Band Instrument Co. as operating 1938-1948 (but nothing about what instruments they made, no pictures, etc.). 

I will be most appreciative of whatever knowledge & information about these "Indiana" Geyer-wrap double horns that form members are able to provide. 

Thank you & Merry Christmas.

Hello Mr. Cole,

I have an Indiana horn, marked "Indianas 262". I have been trying to contact you. do you still have yours?

I had my horn, which is in real bad shape, upside down on a hold holder today. I was looking at it and sxw some very small lettering on the bottom of the lead pip bracket. I had to get a magnification to read it but it says " Made in Germany". This changes my thinking re. who the builder was. Have you ever noticed the similarity between the Indiana horns and a Knopf Mod. 16? Please contact me re. your horns.

Thanks,
J. Sterchak, brand new member