Sousaphone, Used by Henry Ford's Early American Orchestra, circa 1925

Henry Ford put together an "Old Time Orchestra" to play at his old-fashioned dances. In the early years, the orchestra included a fiddle, dulcimer, cimbalom-and this sousaphone. Maurice Castel played it, later switching to a string bass. About 1938, Castel, skilled in watch and clock repair, left the orchestra to work with Ford's collection of antique timepieces.