Hello all!

I am now the proud owner of 2 44Hs. One is lacquered brass, serial #2874XX. The other is engraved silver, serial #3965XX. I was looking at photos of hand slides online and found out the earlier slide has the hand slide braces in the same style as the bell bracing, while the later one is just round braces on the slide. None of the photos online have the non-round braces. Is this unique to just the super early horns or is this possibly a custom job? Any advice is welcome. I will also upload photos when I am able.