I pulled this one down to sell to someone (as a gift to their niece) as they said she would like silver, and a smaller bore would be fine.
This was before everyone's trumpets were Bach-like (actually Bach were/are "French Besson-like"), and back when various makes could easily be distinguished from a distance. (I believe that - styling-wise - American manufacturers had the MOST fun with their trombones.)
Conn's top-of-the-line trumpet (the "Connstellation") was wildly popular (nickel plated body / lacquered slides). It's appearance was very similar, but with a larger bell, and - usually - a spring trigger on the #1 slide.
Completely bright-silver plated brass instruments (such as this one) - in America - didn't really begin to become popular until - in the mid-late 1960's - Carl "Doc" Severinsen took Skitch Henderson's place as leader of the Tonight Show Band, and chose to play a ("wow...look at THAT !!!) bright silver plated Getzen Eterna Model trumpet...so (without bothering to run the serial number), I'd guess that this trumpet was probably made in the 70's (as most of them that I've encountered were epoxy lacquered - including the Connstellation Model, whereby the nickel plating on the body was coated with epoxy lacquer - and were made in the 1960's).
Of course, tuba styling never changed very much, as it would have been more costly, tubas were (well...) just tubas, and any style changes would be overwhelmed by the scale (size) of the rest of the instrument.
Not a rhetorical question but actually a REAL question:
Would this plain/sleek/functional styling seen with this Conn "Director" (entry level) trumpet from that era be referred to - style-wise - as "Mid-Century Modern" (along with the plain blond maple furniture, steel, plastic chairs, etc.), or - style-wise - be described as something else?
(fwiw...I wouldn't describe the components as "precision-fitting" - and no: not worn...but "good enough to play". This was the era when most American products began to become craptastic.)
