http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rudall-and-Rose-8-keyed-flute-/161471036415?ssPageName=ADME:SS:SS:GB:1120
What does anyone make of this? It looks decidedly ‘modern’ to me for a serial number that low. But then, I frequently find that I’m wrong about such things.
Nice looking flute, at any rate.
Looks like a nice one with seemingly just a tenon joint socket repair. I have R&R 984 in the register, which is a boxwood & ivory flute sold for 1800 sterling by G&H in 2009. I think the starting bid 2700 GBP is too high though for these times. Arthur Haswell has a very nice R&C for 1795 GBP
Looks grand to me. I get what you mean, though, Ben - might have expected flat-round leather or cork padded keys rather than saltspoon/elastic plug padded ones. The narrow hockey-stick low C#/C and straight long C touches are more typically early, of course.
Let’s hope someone will pay what it is truly worth. I wonder who the professional user (vendor) is…
The end cap looks a little large to me, and I can’t see the end of the wooden screw mechanism for adjusting the cork which usually sticks out a bit. Could this end cap be a replacement? Prehaps the whole head joint, (not the barrel with stamp) is a modern replacement? What do you think?
The photos are so poor there’s no telling (anything much!) from them for certain, Steampacket. You might be right that the crown looks a little deeper than some originals, but they do vary. I simply can’t see the end, but it is not unusual for the ball finials (commonest but not the only design) of the adjustable stoppers to get snapped off. If I was after bidding on it, I’d certainly ask for some better lit and better arranged photos. I see no reason to be as suspicious as you are implying. R&R (and other contemporary flutes’) heads were almost never stamped save on the barrel, so it is virtually impossible to state with certainty that heads are original: but the vast majority probably are.
Maybe it’s as you say Jem. Better photos would clarify things I’m sure. Good that these unknown Rudal flutes keep turning up.
nice nice flute, new pics added show the serial and I read 988…
Weren’t those shots there all along? Whatever, they’re not good enough to be conclusive on the serial number’s last digit. A half-stamped 8 will resemble a 3, but I think the form of the lines is different between the two - the 8 is more “crossy” at its middle, so I think I still favour the last digit as a 3 as the lines seem to curve in more to the centre of the figure. But I really am not sure. A proper, well-lit, perpendicular shot is needed…
Another new entry in my db:
R&C # 6728 in Ireland:
http://www.donedeal.ie/brassandwind-for-sale/rudall-carte-8-key-concert-flute-c-1872-/8075801
Looks nice, although the cork looks out of place on an old Victorian flute. As the market is today they’ll be lucky to get half their asking price even if it is a good player. That train left the station back in 2008/2009.