The melodic coach horn was the precursor of the modern, blasting car horn.
Road coaches served as public transportation and for delivering supplies and mail.
As inns began to spring up along the service routes (usually about 10 miles apart, the distance a team of horses could daily haul a heavy load at a brisk pace), the hornsman or groom would announce the approach of the coach by blowing a tootle (also known as a call or tune) on his horn.
Though these calls were functional, they also served to entertain passengers.
Each of the authentic calls, still used by pleasure coaches, carries a message: We have arrived, we’re thirsty, we need lodging; get ready and let’s go. There were also calls to clear the road of people and animals, and for directions–off side, near side, slacken pace, pull up, steady to the right, to the left–and one for a change of horses or to add a horse to help pull the coach up the hill.
“There were no phones back then and so you had to be able to communicate from a distance if you were to keep on schedule,” explained Richard O’Donnell, vice president of branch administration for First National Bank in West Chester, Pa., and a coach horn player.
Some coach horns are as long as 52 inches, which takes great skill to play while standing up on a moving coach. The favored length today is 48 inches.
Coach horns are made from tin, copper, brass or other metals that have been silver-plated.
O’Donnell, who played trumpet in high school, is one of about 30 to 40 coach horn players in the United States and Canada.
He said a brand-name antique coach horn in excellent condition can cost approximately $1,000 to $7,000 and a reproduction sells for around $600.
