There was a great session in Cleary´s on the wednesday afternoon. We were playing away and a lady came and sat down, she had her daughters with her and an old looking flute box in snakeskin leather. She opened the box and there she had a beautiful boxwood R&R in pristine condition. Time stopped for a moment. Myself and the other two flute players were gobsmacked. She was a very fine musician too, and it was great to her her play this instrument and do it justice. When she joined it and started to play the bottom notes had that fuzzy breathy sound at first then became more focused and solid the longer she played. Turns out she had another three digit Rudall as well, at home. As far as I could make out the serial number of the boxwood R&R is 5860 or maybe 5680. She put some almond oil on the stamp to make it stand out more, but in the light and guinness fueled heat of the moment, plus the excitement of being confronted with such an instrument out of the blue in the middle of a firey session it was difficult to focus clearly. Should have had a magnifying glass really. The flute was in immaculate condition with patent head and original ivory inlay just around the embouchure hole. No warping and had a very powerful sound. One of the other flute players, from England who also had a Rudall with him was of the opinion that this boxwood flute must have been a special order, probably for some gentlewoman back in the day.
I almost forgot to check the address, which was hard to decipher but as far as I could make out/remember there was a word beginning with C which could either be Charing or Covent. I´m not sure now, should have taken a photo of the stamp, I´m sure the word Garden was there too, no, it was Cross. I didn´t remember R&R´s different addresses at the time. Now I realise being in the 5000 series, it must have been Charing Cross
My neighbors down the street 3 or 4 houses asked me in onetime to show me a flute played by someone 3 or 4 generations back. They showed me a lovely boxwood Firth, Hall and Pond in near perfect condition. It included one of these pewter fipple devices that surround the embouchure - turning it into a D whistle.
These things are still hiding out there and like fossils, I think we have only seen the tip of the iceberg. Helps to keep alert and look in unlikely places like Value Village and Goodwill, antique stores (especially the seedier looking ones), garage sales, etc. One never knows.
In an earlier session during Willie Week in the Central Hotel l met a man I hadn´t seen since 1999 as he works in the US, and he had an old 8 key Rudall with a three digit number, 718, that he´d lent to a prominent Irish flute player 7 years ago in exchange for another flute. The flute player had returned the flute a few weeks ago to the owner with a new headjoint, as the original head joint was badly cracked. The owner felt the flute lacked power however. I thought the flute was loud enough, mind you the owner is a very good experienced flute player. Later during the week a couple of other flute players mentioned that some of the three digit R&R´s often had very small holes and were not so loud. Is this a known fact? The owner had forgot to ask who had made the new headjoint, but I suspect Chris Wilkes
Have you voyeurs informed him of what you’ve seen?
No? Saw a couple more R&R´s in sessions that were in full swing, no place to sit, or talk to the owners, so we moved on to another pub. As regards sessions in Miltown during Willie Week you have to be quick as even Fahey´s has closed, no pubs at all open on the Ennis Road, so a seat in a decent session is worth it’s weight in gold. Musicians are SMSing and reserving seats, so you have to be quick.
I think the following is the most interesting story i have ever heard, regarding Rudall & Rose flutes, it goes back a few years when i was visiting a cousin who lives on the outskirts of London. On the weekend we visited a pub about a mile from the house, my cousin had informed me that a great session took place there on weekends, i had my flute with me and was delighted when asked to sit in for a few tunes, after playing for about 1 1/2 hours or so, an older gentelman made a remark as i stood at the bar ordering a drink, “hey chap i like the fife music, do you know that i have a lot of those old fifes at my place” i began to get interested and asked some questions, was the fifes about the same lenght as the one i held in my hand, and did they have keys etc, the reply was’’ yes i think so but some are of different colours and are in boxes, my next question was where did you get the fifes, ‘‘well i purchased an older Austin car from a woman who didnt drive, and it was her late husbands car,when i got the car to my place, i checked the trunk (booth)
and there in boxes and some in bags were these fifes’’.
We talked for quite some time and i said i would like to see the fifes and i would be around for three more days, i was delighted when he replied"o sure old chum (friend) come right over tomorrow in the afternoon".
I arrived at his place with my cousin about 1pm the next day,the man who had introduced himself the night before as Alex Dunphy asked us to follow him out to the back of his house and we proceeded to the garage, there inside under a stairs was a large steamer trunk, when he opened the trunk i could not believe what i was looking at, after going through all the boxes i counted 44 Rudall & Rose flutes, if i remember corectly, there was 8 ivory
flutes all cased in beautiful boxes, three damaged, the rest in prestine condition, 17 boxwood RR flutes, i dont remember exactly how many but i would say about nine with patented head joints, the rest were mostly cocuswood RR flutes, some with very fancy silver keys and rings and againn some in lovely boxes.
I asked if he would sell me a few, and the reply was " i have no idea what these old fifes are worth but my wife has an idea that she will decorate the parlor east wall and place them on shelfs, if i decide to part with them, let me have your address and i will contact you’', my cousin gave him his address and we left. I was terribly disapointed at the idea of these beautiful flutes just sitting there and not being played, but the greatest dissapointment was yet to come, when my cousin called me 2 years afterward and informed me that he read in the local paper that Alex had passed on, I asked him to please go as soon as possible to the house and see if Alexs wife would consider selling the flutes,
My cousin called me back one week later and said he had talked to Mrs Dunphy, she informed him that she had given all the flutes along with some of Alexs other belongings to a traveller who collected old items.
Not such a sad story. Do you think the traveler used the flutes for kindling?
At the time he took possession of the flutes there were only about 35 left. Some of them had already gone to local musicians. I heard that the traveler was aware of their value, being a fiddler himself and a lover of the music.
He gave some of the flutes away to young musicians in the traveler community and contacted local musicians and Teach Ceols as he traveled about the country. He generously gave away some of the flutes, or sold them very cheaply, to young musicians he met along his way. I heard he kept one of the Rudalls for himself and became a player.
He eventually settled somewhere north of Ballinaculla and opened a bicycle repair and tack shop. Or so I’ve heard. I can verify none of it.
My old flute teacher plays a Rudall and still gets misty eyed when he tells about the times 25-30 years ago, when on his many travels to London antique shops he passed up many a fine Rudall and Rose flute, because at the time he was “more of a Pratten player”.
Then he just goes quiet and stares out of the window shaking his head…
Yeah, I know a couple of people with those “Rudalls I stripped the keys off for the silver and used the tube to poke the fire” stories from 30-odd years ago. Whether or not there is any truth in them hardly matters now, does it? I’m not clear if glinjack’s tale is genuine or a fantasy/legend. I’m sure Cocusflute’s follow up is embroidering the legend! On the other hand, Steampacket’s sightings are quite specific and involve serial numbers which do not appear to be on David Migoya’s R&R Catalogue - hence my first post in this thread. I think David’s project is a brilliant one and deserves serious support!
Great interesting stories there from Glinjack & Cocusflute regarding that collection of flutes. Thanks for sharing. I’ve been trying to find out if there were/are any Irish traveller flute players, but have had no sucess as of yet. Met up in Miltown with piper/pipemaker Finbar McLaughlin of Derry and even flute player/singer Paddy O’Neill of Derry. Asked them and they couldn’t think of any Irish Traveller musicans that played the flute. Strange.
Found R&R nr 3508 in Sotheby’s catalogue. Lot Nr: 252 (also noted in David’s serial number catalogue) sold for 4.200 GBP in 2001. This boxwood 8 key had both a patent & a regular R&R headjoint and was similar to the boxwood R&R I saw in Cleary’s. The boxwood in Cleary’s had a grooved patent head adjuster cap and the end ring on the footjoint was also a wide, not the usual narrow ring, and grooved in the same manner as the patent head adjuster cap.
Hi,
Sounds like akiller flute! I would think that the Patent head would make a boxwood flute quite head heavy, as the boxwood body is so light. It would be fun to reproduce a patent head sometime, with all those moving parts…
I am still waiting for a Boxwood Rudall to show up on eBay, and have everyone miss it, then I would win it for $300…
Great stories of lost treasure! Maybe Cocusflute can travel the country side with his Rudalls and hand them out? Think of the joy that would bring…
I guess people in glass houses shouldn’t throw rocks.
Hello Steampacket, The boxwood # 3508 is my flute, its a great playing flute with large tone-holes and original case to fit the 2 head joints. It was a special order flute made for a Richard Woodward who was a scientist and his name is on a silver plaque on the case
Thanks for the info Glinjack. It certainly looks like a handsome instrument. Leaving Cleary´s there was a session in the front and a middleaged man was playing a blackwood Rudall with a patent head joint, metal lip plate and like the boxwood Rudall we saw the head cap and end ring were grooved, not engraved. The man was in the middle of a set of tunes and we were in a hurry so didn´t get to ask him for a seriel number
continue with the sightings! rmember, numbers, addresses and descripptions help the catalogue!!
oh…steampacket…that rudall in Sotheby’s…I’ve played it. Marvelous flute. I won’t ID its owner (and it’s on the website for www.rudallrose.com) unless they do it themselves.
I have my own pair of boxwood Rudalls and love them. Though I don’t play them as much as I probably should!
keep those cards and letters coming!!!
btw…i’ve got all the Rudalls sold at public auctions dating to 1975 in the catalogue, though not all on the website yet. So many Rudalls, so little time!
Compiled by AP a London based R&R expert. a list of serial numbers & year of manufacture and quantity. Seems like during the period, 1831-1835, as many as 350 flutes were turned out each year. According to this tabell in 1847 the number series is 5400. This makes me suspect that the first digit of the number of the boxwood flute I saw was 3 and not 5
how very tragic… sob
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