This curious item has appeared on eBay at http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Custom-made-Hardwood-Low-C-Whistle-with-5-keys-/161156094991?pt=UK_Woodwind_Instruments&hash=item2585a6dc0f a Low C whistle with five keys made by Irish flutemaker Arie de Keyser who adapted his original flute into a low whistle though he doesn’t appear to make them normally. Has anyone any experience of his flutes . . . or for that matter a whistle he’s made? I wonder what it plays like?
Arie is a well-respected flutemaker and pipemaker based in Dublin (Malahide). So this oddball instrument starts with a good pedigree at least. 
I’m familiar with his pipes.
Well, it certainly does peak my curiosity enough to bid on it. If it doesn’t get too crazy I might buy it.
ecohawk
Hi ecohawk
It is a UK only auction, you could not bid on it directly.
David
I’m only curious, David, because I don’t know the eBay rules … If a buyer could arrange a UK ship-to address, say for possible transshipment elsewhere, would that work? In other words, is non-UK bidding explicitly disallowed, or only implicitly because of the shipping restriction? The item does appear on eBay.com. And a quid’s a pound the world around …
That might work MT. It would be best to try an early test bid. I’m in the UK but bid on an Overton on eBay.de for shipment in Germany only. I had it sent to a friend there and he posted it on.
A couple of sellers i have bought only items from haven’t had any problem sending abroad. A couple of sellers just didn’t pay attention when they placed the ad and a couple didn’t mind shipping anyway, so my advice is - contact the selller in advance, it might pay off.
I don’t have any experience with Arie since he moved to Ireland and started making Irish instruments, but when he was still in Belgium I corresponded with him and had him make me a set of Flemish bagpipes, which were very nice. That’s what he was, a Flemish pipe maker… then at some later point he got into the uilleann pipes.
He was great to work with at the time, prompt and with reasonable prices and nice craftsmanship.
Hi MTGuru
I am surprised that it showed up in eBay.com. The ships to field in the eBay ad is usually what determines the specific countries that can see the auction. To be seen in eBay.com the field should have Worldwide or specify the US directly. I am on a tablet tight now, but I will check when back on a PC.
I’ve often bid on UK (or other) only auctions with great success. Generally the seller will ship to other places unless it’s stated clearly in the description. I’ve pm’d the seller to check.
ecohawk
Hi MTGuru
I checked eBay.com and eBay.ie to see if it showed up there, it showed up on neither, at least for me.
David
It shows up if you search by item number: 161156094991
I won’t be bidding on this. I was just interested in the procedure for future reference.
Hi MTGuru
I checked a few of the sites and have found that even if the seller says he/she will ship worldwide, it might not show up in some areas.
David
It depends on how well the seller sets up that sale on eBay. He might say he will sell worldwide in the narrative but unless he creates postage facility for a particular country or region it will not show up in listings for that country. It’s as simple as that.