1897—Chicago, Illinois

The popular and widely-distributed Sears & Roebuck catalogue includes offerings of 3 different types of alto trombone: one slide alto (according to the catalogue description, an instrument “by the leading French manufacturer”) and two valve altos (one of them “furnished with German silver mouthpiece, German piston valves, water key and music rack,” the other a very compact instrument with “French Light Action silver piston valves” and “German silver mouthpiece”). All three are advertised as instruments in the key of E-flat (see below 3 images; public domain) (Sears 1897, 530). The Sears & Roebuck catalogue continues to offer an E-flat alto in subsequent years (see 1900, below).