The Remarkable Story Behind the Cover

This Couesnon cornet was made shortly after 1895 according to the date inscribed on the crest. I have been unable to discover who first owned it.

At a public sale in Saint-Valéry-en-Caux in Normandy it was sold to Mr. Jules Fête (1880–1947), who was a jeweller but also the head of a musical society which continued in existence until 1933.

During the Second World War, during bombing, while the Fête family was in the shelters, it was stolen. One day Mrs. Fête, passing the German commandant's office, heard and recognised the sound of her husband's cornet. She went to the duty officer, who had the soldier who was playing it brought in. In view of the inadequacy of the latter's explanation of how he came to possess such a fine instrument, the officer ordered him to return it.