Historical dates in the development of "Josef Monke" brass instruments
		Josef Monke, born on 18th February 1882 in Elberfeld, near  Wuppertal in Germany.  In 1896 Josef Monke takes up an apprenticeship as a brass  instrument maker with Leopold Mitsching in Elberfeld At this time it was always normal for an apprenticeship to be followed by a period as a journeyman, with the objective of getting to how other businesses worked and for the journeyman to increase his professional skills both in terms of breadth and depth.
Picture captions Group photograph (about 1936) From left Franz Willi Neugebauer, solo trumpet player WDR Josef Monke (seated) Liselotte Monke Professor Richard Stegamnn, Würzburg College, forner member of the Berlin Philharmonic orchestra. 1900 Kurnoth (Knoth) brass instrument makers in Danzig, at this time the capital of West Prussia (Gdansk). 1901 - 1902 C.W. Moritz, a well-known Berlin family of instrument makers (It traded from 1808 - 1955). 1902 - 1904 Max Enders, Mainz, successor to C.A. Müller (Maker of one of the first high F trumpets for the 2nd Brandenburg concert, J.S. Bach). 1904 - 1911 Leopold August Schmidt, son of Friedrich Adolf Schmidt (1827 - 1893) Cologne, (trumpets and horns with a rotating valve of the "Cologne type"). 1911 - 1912 Instrument maker Fritz Werner, Wiesbaden (presumably where he met for the first time Vincent Schrottenbach, a trumpet virtuoso at that time, founder in 1918 of the famous Vincent Bach Corporation in New York, USA (Editor's note from the ITG Journal Vol. 19 No 2). 1912 - 1921 Leopold August Schmidt, Cologne, (Josef Monke's last employer before he set up his own brass instrument making company in 1922).     28th February 1922 "Josef Monke" brass instrument makers takes up production at Zülpicher Glacis 58 in Cologne (the present university campus between Bachemerstrasse and Zülpicherstrasse. At that time Josef Monke was 40 years old with a wife and two children (Wilhelm and Liselotte Monke). As a result of various circumstances he was forced to relocate with his workshop several times.
1922 - 1926 Cologne, Zülpicher Glacis 58  1926 - 1938 Cologne, Maastrichter Strasse 19  1938 - 1958 Cologne, Subbelrather Strasse 186  from 1958 onwards, Cologne, Körner Strasse 48 - 50 Josef Monke passed away at the age of 83 on the 22nd November 1965. His daughter Liselotte Monke took over the business, formed a limited company, and went on managing this with a few highly qualified craftsmen up until November 1997. Josef Monke (1937) making a bell
Brass instrument master craftsmen and managing director Stephan Krahforst   1st November 1997 "Josef Monke GmbH" was taken over by Stephan Krahforst (master brass instrument maker) born in 1963 in Cologne.  1980 - 1983 Training as a brass instrument maker  1983 Examination leading to qualification as Journeyman (regional  winner)  1989 Examination leading to qualification as Master (best result of the  year)  1997 Takes over "Josef Monke GmbH" as managing director  2000 He celebrates 20 years service with the company Timeless, like musical works written by great composers, the hammering, hole punching, filing, turning and welding over many decades has forged the company ethos "Quality instead of quantity". Shaping and working metals of different colours into the final musical instrument becomes a passion. Musical instruments created in this way are played with a masterly touch by virtuosos to produce unique tones which return to the memory again and again. They are timeless. Yours