Tea Tray Horns
Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2026 11:00 am
Hopefully, this will spark a bit of life in the Forum...
A week ago, I had the privilege of being invited to a meeting of phono folks in Canada. It was a great bunch of people! Our forum guys Dave Dazer, Darren Wallace, and our host Blaine McCutcheon(?) were there. As well as several others whose names I wish I could remember
One of the guys did an excellent talk on repainting flowered horns. His example was a TTCo. horn that he had repainted. It was literally perfect! Being an artist, and having researched the painting of these horns, he understood the technique of the original artists and duplicated it to perfection. He explained that TTCo. horns had three basic flower designs. Two colors of roses, and white mums(?). One might think that the original artists had some leeway, or artistic license, in the flower designs. They did not! Each horn was painted in a specific way, with colors, styles, and placement of flowers done by a strict "formula". Even the small leaves were governed closely in size, quantity, and position. It was pointed out that knowing this, repaints can be easily spotted when they differ from the original scheme.
I've also heard mentioned, that to their recollection, nobody has really ever seen an actual tea tray manufactured by the TTCo., or at least one that was identified as such by the usual TTCo. decal, or similar. Surely, they must have made tea trays, given the name of the company. So, I mentioned this to a friend of mine, who's great grandfather actually owned the Tea Tray Company! His response was, "As I understand it, my family originally got a contract to supply Union soldiers with tinned meat. That became the Tea Tray Company afterwards, and they indeed did make inexpensive consumer trays out of tin." Has anyone here ever seen one???
All of this got me re-interested in a couple TTCo. horns in my collection. Here is one I picked up a few months ago. Happily, it seems to follow the technique and flower design as was described at the talk in Canada.
Here's another. Let's see some of yours as well!
A week ago, I had the privilege of being invited to a meeting of phono folks in Canada. It was a great bunch of people! Our forum guys Dave Dazer, Darren Wallace, and our host Blaine McCutcheon(?) were there. As well as several others whose names I wish I could remember
One of the guys did an excellent talk on repainting flowered horns. His example was a TTCo. horn that he had repainted. It was literally perfect! Being an artist, and having researched the painting of these horns, he understood the technique of the original artists and duplicated it to perfection. He explained that TTCo. horns had three basic flower designs. Two colors of roses, and white mums(?). One might think that the original artists had some leeway, or artistic license, in the flower designs. They did not! Each horn was painted in a specific way, with colors, styles, and placement of flowers done by a strict "formula". Even the small leaves were governed closely in size, quantity, and position. It was pointed out that knowing this, repaints can be easily spotted when they differ from the original scheme.I've also heard mentioned, that to their recollection, nobody has really ever seen an actual tea tray manufactured by the TTCo., or at least one that was identified as such by the usual TTCo. decal, or similar. Surely, they must have made tea trays, given the name of the company. So, I mentioned this to a friend of mine, who's great grandfather actually owned the Tea Tray Company! His response was, "As I understand it, my family originally got a contract to supply Union soldiers with tinned meat. That became the Tea Tray Company afterwards, and they indeed did make inexpensive consumer trays out of tin." Has anyone here ever seen one???
All of this got me re-interested in a couple TTCo. horns in my collection. Here is one I picked up a few months ago. Happily, it seems to follow the technique and flower design as was described at the talk in Canada.
