This horn is a so-called cor solo, pitched in G and equipped with internal crooks for the lower keys down to C. As the name indicates, it was designed to play solos. It represents the first French version of the valve horn, invented by Heinrich Stölzel in Germany in 1814. In 1827 Antoine worked with Pierre-Joseph-Émile Meifred, horn player for the Théâtre Italien and the Opéra in Paris, to improve the German model. None of the early examples have survived, but the cor Meifred, as this horn was also dubbed in France, continued to be manufactured there as late as the 1850s.

The horn was executed in "high pitch," which was just beginning to be superseded by the "low pitch" standard of 435 hertz—soon universal. Thus the instrument was little played and has remained in excellent condition. Antoine, who in 1825 had become proprietor of the renowned instrument-making firm of Jean Hilaire Halari-Asté, signed the horn on the bell "HALARI—ANTOINE BREVETE RUE MAZARINE A PARIS."