The February Horn of the Month is a Mahillon piccolo trumpet pitched in “Bb with an extension to G”. It is a nickel-plated instrument with a beautiful medallion on the bell.
The valves are piston valves (valves are in the standard configuration: whole step, half step, step and a half). The bell inscription, in eight lines of text, reads: “W. E. Sears/ New York/ 521/ C. Mahillon/ Brussels/ Since 1836/O. / graphic- 6 pointed star mark”. There is additional engraving on bell in an art deco manner. On the opposite side from the medallion is inscribed “made in Belgium”. Perhaps most special to me is the medallion. The medallion has a silver crown flanked by two Belgian flags done with colored enamel (red, yellow and black). The next level down has two lions surrounding a shield with a silver lion of Brabant on a black background. Just below the shield is a white enamel banner with the words “L’UNION FAIT LA FORCE” meaning “Unity Makes Strength” or “Strength Through Unity” the motto of Belgium.
W. E. Sears is Walter Edmond Sears (27 April 1930 - 29 April 2010) an American recording engineer, musician, composer and inventor. In the early 1960’s, he imported musical instruments from the Czech company, Cerveny, and the Belgian companies, De Prins and Mahillon. Victor Charles Mahillon’s company had begun making a Bb piccolo trumpet in 1905. The piccolos were pitched in high Bb with additional tuning sections that enabled the instrument to play in A and/or G. They were available in a long herald model (straight) or a shorter folded model. Pictured here is a 3 valve instrument, but a 4-valve instrument was also imported.
There is mention of Mahillon piccolo trumpets being played by various people on the internet (Roger Voisin, Robert Nagel etc.). I saw my first Mahillon piccolo trumpet while studying with Samuel Krauss of the Philadelphia Orchestra. He had two Mahillon piccolos that he would loan to his students. This helped them to learn repertoire and become familiar with playing the piccolo trumpet. To hear the sounds of these special instruments, I suggest you hear Dr. Don Smithers (solo setting) or Louis Opalesky Jr. (orchestra setting).
On the record (vinyl) Philips SAL 6500 110, Baroque Trumpet Anthology (1965), Dr. Don Smithers is pictured with a long 4-valve Mahillon. The playing is wonderful and the sound is very beautiful and distinctive. His recording- Baroque Masterpieces for Trumpet (works of Richter, Graupner, Querfurth and M. Haydn) is available as an MP3- unfortunately his other recordings (8 that I have) are not as of yet available in the CD format.
Louis Opalesky Jr. can be heard on the CRI label recording of Richard Yardumian: Come Creator Spirit (NWCRL 430) with the Chamber Symphony of Philadelphia, Anshel Brusilow conductor. In this piece, Mr. Opalesky plays a Bach “C” trumpet and a Mahillon piccolo trumpet. Also, of interest is the Pablo Casals’s Marlboro Festival Orchestra recording of the J.S. Bach Orchestral Suite No. 4, the trumpet section is Henry Nowak, Wilmer Wise and Louis Opalesky. Here some early20th century piccolo trumpets (Couesnon and Bach, plus a “C” trumpet) perform with a requested “shimmer sound” from Pablo Casals (see Marlboro trumpet section site with Wilmer Wise quote).

(Some information was taken from the websites listed below)
Of Interest:
horn-u-copia.net

Information about Don Smithers
http://abel.hive.no/trompet/smithers/

Historical Brass Journal-
http://www.historicbrass.org/portals/0/documents/newsletter/HBSN_1995_NL08.pdf

Bibliography of Writings About Historical Brass Instruments
http://www.historicbrass.org/portals/0/documents/journal/HBSJ_1990_JL01_web_010_Lasocki_5344.pdf

The Modern Pedagogical Potential of the Baroque Natural Trumpet
http://scholarlyrepository.miami.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1410&context=oa_dissertations

Marlboro trumpet section
http://www.trumpetmaster.com/vb/f145/marlboro-trumpet-section-28942.html

Vienna Symphony Library- History of the piccolo trumpet
https://www.vsl.co.at/en/Piccolo_trumpet/History

Anthony Baines- Brass Instruments: Their History and Development: Bach Trumpets – Millereau piccolo trumpet 1855
https://books.google.com/books?id=DrxJCJBHurkC&pg=PA239&lpg=PA239&dq=trumpet+players+using+Mahillon+piccolo+trumpets&source=bl&ots=0EZIFaBATQ&sig=aaxLcuIav1KFjUjHqB25UmXuJpI&hl=en&sa=X&ei=JbjRVNuUKcTCgwSIn4OIBg&ved=0CGAQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q&f=false