1865 Silver-Plate Fire Trumpet

Appraised on: August 13, 2011

Appraised in: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Appraised by: Philip Weiss

Category: Collectibles

Episode Info: Pittsburgh, Hour 2 (#1608)

Originally Aired: February 20, 2012

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Appraisal Video: (1:04)

GUEST: It's a fire horn from my great-grandfather. He had acquired it 1865 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I did a little looking into this, and this was for a festival that was held in 1865. The New York Times said it was the most splendid and imposing organized march of the time. The actual parade itself was about 20 miles, and they calculated that if they lined up all the fire companies and firemen that were there at the time, it would have stretched about ten miles.

APPRAISER: Wow.

GUEST: So it was a major event.

APPRAISER: The particular company that you have was the Fairmount Section, and according to the article, the Fairmount Section paired up with a group of firemen from Washington, and they marched together. Not silver, it's silver-plated. It's just a great piece. Now, I'm assuming this is something you want to keep in the family?

GUEST: Yeah, absolutely, yeah. It's been with us for four generations, so...

APPRAISER: A piece like this, based on all auction records that we can find, and comparisons, I would say you'd want to insure it for around $5,000.

GUEST: Oh, excellent, excellent.

APPRAISER: It's a really nice piece.