Cornet cases

YamaConn cases

1971 - Director padded case

Note the interior vinyl padding and exterior surface. Also, the latches used appear to be similar to the latches on Yamaha saxophone cases, and the case tag is apparently surplus from the old molded Director cases [raised lettering, Marching Men in arch with red uniforms].

1970/1 - CONNquest wood-shell case

These cases had a cloth-covered shell [or similar] and a new-style tag after a point. Considering that a 1970 CONNquest showed up in one of these gives the impression that these cases were made in 1971, but housed some earlier instruments that hadn't been distributed yet, and these were referred to as "Connquest cases" in a 1972 catalog. The tag still had raised lettering, but the Marching Men were in a square instead of an arch, and didn't have colored uniforms. The interior was plush-lined and more solid than the vinyl of the other Director cases. These cases were the basis for all Conn wood-shell cases up until the early 2000s.

^ Top 2 rows show the early style of this case, with the old-stock Conn tag [these cases came in black, beige, tweed, and brown, at least]. The other cases are later ones with the new-style tag [which apparently came in black, gray/tweed, and red, at least]. ^

Abilene/Henkin cases

mid-1970s - wood-shell case

These cases all followed similar design patterns, and were used for trumpets, cornets, etc. Note the lack of a mouthpiece holder [with the exception of the bottom row photos] and the large Marching Men tag.

late 1970s - Director molded Goshen/MTS case

I've seen late 16As in these, and these were most commonly used with Henkin-era 18A Directors, plus other instruments like saxophones, etc. Note yet another tag is used, but the design is "printed-on" with no raised design.

1980s - early wood-shell case

These were used in a variety of designs, styles, etc. with and without tags, and even by Conn today.

UMI & present cases

These cases are mostly wood-shell, with some molded types

1985 - 20A/B "Director", 85A CONNstellation, and 34A Victor wood-shell case

Similar to the Henkin wood-shell case, and using yet another case tag! This time, the tag was a bit more consistent, with only minor variations up to the early 2000s. The tag sported a flush "printed-on" design, with blue lettering and Marching Men square, with "UMI" set into a red-over-blue ribbon beneath "CONN". The latches varied somewhat.

1985 - 20A/B "Director" molded case

Similar to the Henkin Goshen/MTS case, but with some differences like the latches and tag, which has the same design as the other UMI-Conn case tags.

late 1980s - 1000A/B [top] - 1050A/B [bottom] cases

Wood-shell cases with more consistent tags. The 1000B didn't have the Marching Men on its tag, and the "'Doc' Severinsen" 1000B made no mention of Conn at all on its tag.

1990s-present - molded cases

Used on modern Conn 23B student horns, etc. A new, plastic tag type is used--note that the Marching Men are not used. The 27B Director had a special case tag [2 bottom photos]:

1990s-present - leather/pleather-covered woodshell/double-trumpet cases

Used mainly with the Conn 1B "Vintage One" [usually double-tpt, top row] and 52B CONNstellation [usually single-tpt, bottom row]. Note that the double-trumpet case tag is completely different from all older ones--it's a plastic oval with the script C. G. Conn logo, on the center of the case instead of near a corner.

1980s-2000s - miscellaneous cases

Various case designs used by UMI-Conn.

Bonus: UMI case tags

Since Conn bought out King in 1983 (and King had purchased Benge in 1972), the three companies were on their way to being integrated by the time Skäne Gripen bought the Conn conglomerate and consolidated it into United Musical Instruments (UMI). The UMI-brand case tags all followed a similar format:

Brand and logo [in blue]

UMI [and ribbon] {top half red, lower half blue, with a gap - presumably white, to represent that UMI products were American}

So, besides the ubiquitous Conn case tag:

...you have a similarly-styled tag for King:

and also for Benge: