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Comet Trading Company

"On the other hand, she rides a Comet Two Sixty, which is going to look like a joke next to the Firebolt."
-- Oliver Wood (PA13)

Comet Trading Company

The Comet Trading Company was founded in 1929 by Basil Horton and Randolph Keitch (who had both played for the Falmouth Falcons Quidditch team). The company produced a very popular series of broomsticks (QA9).

Features and models

The Comet series brooms featured the Horton-Keitch braking charm which gave Quidditch players much more control over their movements (QA9).

They were in direct competition with the Cleansweep Broom Company and new improved models were released by both manufacturers every few years (QA9).

Models produced by Comet include: Comet 140, Comet 180, Comet 220Comet Two Sixty (260) and Comet Two Ninety (290) (QA9, DP4).

Appearances

Before his father bought the entire Slytherin Quidditch Team all new Nimbus 2001s, the Comet Two Sixty was the model of broom owned by Draco Malfoy (PS10).

Cho Chang, Seeker on the Ravenclaw Quidditch Team, also rides a Comet 260 broom (PA13).

Tonks, comparing it to her own Comet Two Sixty, is envious of Harry Potter’s newer Firebolt broom when she meets him for the first time as part of the Advance Guard (OP3).

During the tryouts for the Gryffindor Quidditch Team the Comet 260 broom of an unsuccessful team hopeful crashed (HBP11).

Which Broomstick magazine reviewed the latest Comet Two Ninety brooms, which Ron Weasley considered when he was promised a new broom for becoming a Hogwarts Prefect (OP9).

A Comet was one of the brooms involved in a ‘broom smash’ over the River Mersey prior to the last concert date of the Flighty Aphrodite tour of the singer Celestina Warbeck (DP2, Pm).

Splinter and Kreek’s sell secondhand Comet 220 broomsticks (DP4).

Commentary

Etymology

Comets orbit the Sun on long elliptical paths and consist of ice, gas and dust particles. When a Comet appears in the sky it is a beautiful thing to behold - so quite a good name for a flying broomstick.

Notes

Lexicon list of Broom Manufacturers

Although the dates printed on the Daily Prophet Newsletters are:

  • DP2: 8 February 1999 and
  • DP4: 1 October 1999,

the timeframe for these events is 1992-1993.

From the Web

Writing by J K Rowling on Pottermore: The Daily Prophet

Pottermore features:

Harry Potter Wiki:

Pensieve (Comments)

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