It was the best of times, it was the worst of times... sorry, I couldn't resist.
Anyways, I work at a local music store and amidst the school shutdown this spring a few schools sent in all their school owned instruments to get cleaned and sterilized. One such school dropped of an instrument in a very familiar Willson case, as I have for mine. The horn inside was also a 2950, like mine, which I thought was exciting on it's own. Then I checked the serial number, only to find it was ONE digit after of mine. Mine is Wxxx3, theirs was Wxxx4. So we asked the band director about the history of the horn, which I thought it was an interesting perspective on the paths instruments take in life.
My horn's story is pretty straight forward. Bought it online in the summer of 2005 before college and have owned it ever since. Willson confirmed it was built in July of 2005, which would have been very shortly before I got it. I've played it on the few freelance gigs I've gotten, mostly my college alma mater when they need ringers, church gigs, and a musical or two. Otherwise not an exciting life, but a great musical partner.
The school horn originally had a military background (though I don't know where or which group it served). It was purchased at auction through a base here in Ohio (again, no official date or location), and has served as a school instrument since then. Unfortunately I can't trace the history any further, but it did have larger finger buttons which I assume were the military player's preference (or replacements).
To me it's absolutely fascinating to see two horns that most likely started out close together in the factory in Switzerland 15 years ago, now together again. I'll attach an image of the two, taken quickly on my phone. Mine is on the left (sorely in need of a good polishing), and the school/military horn on the right (pre-chem clean, which cleaned up nicely, and before rolling out the bell).