I recently received my dad's trombone. It has been in storage since 1963. I am not a musician & know very little about it. I am unsure if it is simply a wall hanging as a memory of dad or if it should be cleaned up & used.

Questions:

What do I have?

Is there value in it or is it simply a memory?

The only identifying marks are "THE Indiana Elkhart, IND U.S.A." Serial number 35815. I've looked online for info & see similarities to an E.K. Blessing & Martin, but haven't found any that look the same. All the examples I see have fancy engravings on them. Mine has only the text I listed above.

I'd attach pictures here, but haven't figured out how.

Sounds like you have a Martin Indiana. It's a student horn from around 50 years ago. Not much value, but they do play well.

Sorry, no trip to Bermuda from the sale of this thing.