The Berkeley Professional cornet is a Bb cornet with a shepherd's crook design. It is sold by:

http://myworld.ebay.com/freegift

http://myworld.ebay.com/greatbuilder/

http://stores.ebay.com/lucy446675

I may be wrong, but I think they are all the same person(s). For sure, greatbuilder and lucy4466 and lucy446675 are the same.

I had this cornet for two weeks and this is the good and the bad of it. First, the positives, then the negatives, after a brief description.

The cornet is a beautiful instrument to behold. The wood case is very nice, with plush material covering foam. An unmarked mouthpiece comes with the cornet. No accessories come with it. It does not have a third valve tuning slide water key, but the slide is built with two sections so that one can pull that part further out and empty it. The third valve tuning slide has a stop rod so that it doesn't fall out. However, there is no need to worry about it ever falling out because the fit is too tight even with generous lubrication.

Positives
As mentioned above, it is a lovely instrument. It has wonderful warm tone and each note is really pleasing to the ear. It is easy to blow (but see negatives) and low F# to triple C are all accessible. The horn has a good weight and a nice mouthpiece gives it a pleasant balance.

Negatives
The horn deserved a chance. I communicated by phone with Julius (lucy4466's brother) who is the musical expert, because I was not happy with the tuning the first day I got it. He was willing to take the horn back, but said that one needed to learn how to play it. I was about to leave town for two weeks and wanted a smaller horn to carry. I decided to keep it and give it a fair chance. After two weeks, I'm returning the horn. Thankfully he has a generous return policy.The following is why I'm returning it:

From G below the staff to Bb on the staff, tuning is fair. I pulled out the third valve slide to keep C# and D in tune and I did fine. Then I got to middle B. Wow: bad. Then middle C. Ditto. I needed to lip both. Middle E (space on the staff) was a little off also, but not as bad.

Next, slotting is poor. The best way to play it is softly because it overblows easily. But even then it's a struggle to keep the instrument in tune with itself (i.e., intonation).

Next, the third valve tuning slide is not easy to move on the fly. Ease of movement might have helped with the poor intonation, but that is unlikely.

Finally, valve action is poor: the valves stuck even after the valves and valve casing were rinsed and wiped down and well oiled. In contrast, the Berkeley C/Bb trumpet (see my guide) has wonderful, quick valve action. I wonder why they didn't incorporate the same know-how for the cornet.

I was really, really sorry to have to come to the conclusion that it was not worth keeping, even if it were only to keep my chops in shape while out of town. Part of the reason is that I'd like to practice with some song tracks, and it won't play in tune with the pieces; also I sometimes get the chance to play in church when out of town, which is something I couldn't do with the Berkeley Professional cornet because it it so terribly out of tune.

Comparison
Let me compare this brand new, Chinese instrument with an old Olds Ambassador cornet. I bought an Olds Ambassador cornet (1976) a few months ago from eBay. Great transaction. I sold it because I wanted a nicer looking horn. I shouldn't have. Well, I guess it's OK to look for a nicer looking horn because I play in public. But I'm going to be looking for an Olds Ambassador again even if it has some blemishes.

The Olds Ambassador cornet has a sound that is really like that of a trumpet. The only thing that the Berkeley cornet has on the Olds is its wonderful mellow tone. But the Olds is in tune with itself. Tone alone doesn't cut it.

The Olds has lightning fast valve action. No problem at all.

I would not recommend buying the Berkeley Professional Cornet unless you just want it as a show piece for your living room (or unless you have a crummy sense of pitch). :-)