The cornet à pistons is France's most important contribution to the evolution of valve instruments. It was developed in Paris in 1827–28 as a small version of the Berlin valve trumpet, which was introduced in Paris in 1826. The company, Courtois Frères, was one of the first manufacturers to build these instruments; another of its cornets, once owned by the Musée du Conservatoire National de Musique in Paris, was dated as early as 1828.

Built in 1833, the present instrument is among the few cornets à pistons that survive from this very early period. It is in a remarkably good state of preservation and comes with all its accessories, including shanks, couplers, two mouthpieces, and the terminal crooks that facilitate the tuning in B-flat, A, A-flat, G, F, and E-flat. Its playing qualities, however, leave something to be desired, as is often the case with valve instruments prior to 1835. In those early years, many makers were still too inexperienced to master fully the technological and musical problems of such instruments.