This pair of natural trumpets was used by members of the 2nd Royal Bavarian Heavy Cavalry “Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Este” (Königlich Bayerisches 2. Schwere-Reiter-Regiment „Erzherzog Franz Ferdinand von Österreich-Este“). Both instruments have dents along the main tubing and bell. It is uncertain how the damage occurred.

Founded in 1815, the Royal Bavarian Army cuirassier regiment was stationed in Landshut during peace time, fought in the Austro- Prussian and Franco-Prussian wars, and was disbanded in 1919 after serving in World War I.

Raised after the Napoleonic Wars, the regiment’s first Inhaber (proprietor) was Duke Pius August of Bavaria. In 1899, Archduke Franz Ferdinand—heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne—was assigned as the Inhaber by Luitpold, Prince Regent of Bavaria, a symbolic assignment intended to foster rapprochement between the German and Austro-Hungarian empires and recognize kinship between the Habsburg and Wittelsbach dynasties.