A Most Interesting French Post Chaise Horn. Brass Trumpet, Horn Mouthpiece.

19th century. In France and Switzerland in the Alp regions, as the post chaise drives around the numerous deadly bends, on the mountain passes, in the fog, the post chaise horn is blown to warn on-coming vehicles. Of course the British poste chaise used them as well but this one is French made. A post chaise, is a four-wheeled, closed carriage, containing one seat for two or three passengers, that was popular in 18th-century England and France. The body was of the coup? type, appearing as if the front had been cut away. Because the driver rode one of the horses, it was possible to have windows in front as well as at the sides. At the post chaise?s front end, in place of the coach box, was a luggage platform. The carriage was built for long-distance travel, and so horses were changed at intervals at posts (stations).In England, public post chaises were painted yellow and could be hired, along with the driver and two horses, for about a shilling a mile. The post chaise is descended from the 17th-century two-wheeled French chaise.