A four key boxwood flute by William Henry Potter came onto eBay earlier this week with a starting bid of £10 with no reserve. The instrument was said to measure just over 80cm long, which would suggest it was pitched in low Bb. I asked this seller if he would accept a B.I.N. price of £50. He replied with a counter offer of £70 but also sent bank account details for the money to be transferred to. I was insistent on making payment by Paypal but the seller claimed that he had reached his “limit on Paypal.” A couple of days after this correspondence, the flute was taken down and the account “garygfth” had been deactivated. This account was created on the 15th of January this year and had a feedback rating of 100%. Four items (two mobile phones a laptop and a flat screen T.V) were “sold” using this account, all to the same buyer.
The single picture with the auction showed a boxwood William Henry Potter four key with pewter plugs, ivory bands and was missing its crown.
(The instrument in the picture supplied looked longer than the standard four key.)
I am writing to warn potential buyers if such an instrument appears again on ebay or a similar site.
