ya go with the coffee the tree line probably is not something ya’d expect to find, in Texas, is it? 
Shoot, I didn’t even know what a tree was until I was about 12.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled discussion about old flutes with big name tags.
Polished up, it might look quite nice. Could be a American made flute?
They probably had a rash of flute thieves, and F. Frees figured out how to personalize his flute. 
What about just putting a piece of scotch tape on the inside lengthwise along the crack? Would that work?
Maybe duct tape would. Everybody knows duct tape is the number one tool in America.
followed closely by bailing twine 
But he is in Australia, so the preferred repair material is Vegimite!
Perhaps.
I’m pretty skeptical about everything but sometimes weird things do happen.
Sometimes flutes have names. 
Regardless of is inhabitant or lack thereof its a pretty cool flute. Should look pretty good once cleaned up.
Thanks for the fun replies people. .I had a good laugh at all of them…
I suppose the reason I bought the Flute (US$27.00 on the Ebay) was the inscription…I wondered about its history and why was the inscription so carefully carved into the Flute..
The workmanship is SO detailed…The tiny letters cut out so precicely and inserted into the recesses is very well done…although it apears that whoever did it,was not a metalsmith/woodworker,but a person with a fair bit of time on their hands…so I wondered,Gaol…Hospital…infirmed in some way…or maybe… someone like me who just likes to ‘play in the shed’..
I have nice visions of him/her sitting there by candlelight working away at the Flute…
Yes Whistlin’ Dixie it is (was) a powerfully grotty Flute…the large cracks were repaired with…TAR !! ( or maybe Vegemite !)…and it has spead over it,giving the black finish…but underneath lurks a very pretty timber,which is getting prettier the more I clean it…using acetone and fine steel wool…
I’m having a great time restoring it..It’ll never have its keys back as I’m going to fill in the holes…but I hope to get it playable again as a six holer…
Its just a terriffic thing to hold something so old in my hands…especially something that obviously meant a lot to someone all those years ago..
I’ll post another photo when it’s finished…
Thanks for your interest…and help…weedie…
Rosebud … Rooooosebuuuud …
Don’t clean it up.
It has character.
Make it play and that is it.
27 bucks?
I hate you 
Seriously though.
Thats a score just for the fun factor of the inscription.
Don’t plug the holes with anything you can’t remove and keep the posts if you can.
If its a good player you may wish to later restore the keys.
What a fun project.
You can’t lose really.
How proximal is an 1867 flute’s tuning to our A440?
Sorry to be herbicidal weedie but will you be able to play it in session?
If it is a early American flute, it may be close, as there tuning wasn’t as flat as the English flutes. Tuning around A=445?
So is my Seery (blackwood body, delrin head/barrel) more 1860s American? Always about 448 unless I extend the slide, sometimes radically. Or is that because its generally warmer (even in winter) in my part of Australia than it is in Ireland where it was made?
Pardon my ignorance.
I don’t quite follow you. I guess what you are saying is that with the tuning slide all the way in it is high pitched? This is how it is always done, that wasy when the flute is cold or your embouchure requires the tuning to be a little sharper, you can have a little adjustment. Normally, one would not have the tuning slide pushed all the way in. I usually make the slide so there is about 1/2" of slide showing, I mean if you are going to use silver, might as well let it shine!
But Jon, you DID follow me and you have answered my question. Thanks.
BTW, what was so confusing about my post that you had to apply guesswork to conclude my meaning when my meaning is patent?
Maybe it was:
So is my Seery (blackwood body, delrin head/barrel) more 1860s American?
A higher pitch instrument will also have some internal tuning problems when played at a lower pitch, where yours is probably tuned for 440, just has the slide pushed all the way in…
Seeing as Seery is a modern (as in the era of A=440 tuning) maker, I frankly was taken aback that your flute could be pitched so sharply, such that you could need to pull the tuning slide out so far. Indeed, my first thought was that you simply have been blowing too high against the embouchure’s strike wall, which could account for such sharp tuning.
Therefore, as my question, have you tried matching your tuning against such as a tuning fork, or whatever tuning devise, while having the tuning slide at anywhere near a more normal position, perhaps as at somewhere near upwards of several millimeters out from the head joint?
It’s not my point here to be critical, here, but I simply am curious, please.
Gee, I am heartened by your interest and curiosity and so I have created a new topic for to discuss this so that I don’t hijack weedie’s topic.