Just saw this flute on ebay, the seller always has a few doer uppers listed,
this one appears to be ivory, but the seller has not specified, I am guessing it is as its a Uk sale only, worth a look if you can sort out the the ivory import paper work, I tried a while ago, and UK customs made it a real task and a half.
cheers sponge. 
theres also an Eamonn cotter keyless from Ireland on ebay, I think I saw it up on chiff a while back
link below
Three cheers for the cotter flute.
An ‘unwanted gift’ the seller says.
Would that I would get such gifts!
Could be Ivory, but it is doubtful. Most likely it’s a very overexposed photo of a Boxwood flute. Could be an Ivory head with a Boxwood body.
Only way to know is to ask.
Loren
Its ivory.
Very nice ivory flute, (that is why it has to be shipped to a UK address) made by a very respectable maker:
Drouet, Louis Francois Philippe He employed Cornelius Ward, which this flute may be made by. I like Drouet’s later flutes that had the special key arrangement on the foot.
I imagine this flute will go for quite a bit, $7k?
Indeed it is, and clearly so, which I would have seen had I bothered to scroll down and look at the additional pictures 
Loren
that’s ok, we forgive you! it certainly gave us all something to think about.
Evidence the power of suggestion: I downloaded the image, blew it up and increased the gamma - I would’ve sworn I saw woodgrain in the image.
Sheeesh! 
Nice flute!
this isnt directly related, but i dont think it deserves a new thread.
this flute looks interesting: http://cgi.ebay.com/Antique-Grenadilla-Wood-Flute-C-Foot-by-Hug-Co-Zurich_W0QQitemZ330232112885QQihZ014QQcategoryZ10183QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Actually, you probably were seeing grain, because Ivory does have it’s own type of grain - it’s more visible in some pieces than others, but it’s always there. It was a point of pride where I used to work that whenever adding Ivory tone hole bushings, sleeves, bells, etc., we would always match the grain of the ivory to the grain of the wood it was being mated with. Very few makers go to that trouble, but it’s worth the effort, aesthetically.
Loren
^^^
Yup hes right. Its got grain.
Its different from animal to animal.
Big solid pieces come from what?
The front of an elephants tusk I wager.
They get hollow a full of pulp/marrow closer to the root.
Always looks too much like bone (duh) Just too alive.
It always creeps me out.
Jon C. showed me some big chunks of hippo tooth one time.
Like putting your tongue in an animals mouth.
Yech!
Yeah, and some pieces can smell really stinky when you turn or mill it as well, blech.
Actually, one of the problems with artificial Ivories has typically been a lack of visible or believable grain, as that’s one of the easiest ways to visually tell the real stuff from imitation Ivory. Most makers seem to use GPS, and we did as well, however it falls a bit short in the grain dept. (And it smells terrible, I always worried about the fumes being toxic in some way.) Towards the end of my time at vH, we got some new imitation Ivory from Japan that had really prominent grain, perhaps too much in fact. But it looked more authentic than GPS. I wonder if they ever tweaked the Japanese stuff to tone down the grain just a hair, it would be nearly perfect if they did.
Loren
Has anyone ever tried using dental filler for fixing cracks? Where does one procure this stuff?
You can’t buy the stuff unless you have a dentist friend, they restrict the sale. I haven’t been able to get any yet, just a little I got on eBay. It is sold in a kit with all the different colors, and the curing blue light. I heard that it works well in filling cracks. Wilkes and a few others use the stuff. I have tried other materials without much luck. The problem with ivory, is it is very unstable, and moves quite a bit with humidity changes.
Hey Loren, do you remember which company was manufacturing / selling the Japanese artificial ivory? I’m interested in trying some.
Agree about the GPS smelling kind of toxic!
Cheers, Dan
Sorry Dan, I can’t remember the name, as I only heard it in passing. Your best bet would be to call the Von Huene Workshop and ask for Patrick, who is currently the head of the (production) shop. You might get a better response from him if you DON’T tell him I sent you,
If Pat is unavailable, ask if Friedrich is around, as he’s the only other person there who might know, or be able to dig up, the info. Plus he’s a delight, and I doubt there’s anyone alive who knows more about historic woodwinds. The guy is amazing. I haven’t spoken with anyone at the shop in a couple of years, but Friedrich was still coming in nearly daily back when I was still there. I hope he is still doing well.
Loren
We didn’t really find that the case, the shop having made a very large number of rings, sleeves, bells, as well as solid instruments from Ivory over the years. Perhaps it has something to do with the age of the Ivory? I don’t know as everything we had in the shop was bought by FvH many years ago (well before the ban) We actually had racks of solid Ivory recorders that had been made years ago which still were quite stable, relative to let’s say Boxwood.
Thin rings do tend to crack, but the thicker sleeves that were standard on the instruments we made were typically in good shape many years later.
The instruments below were all new, with exception of the all white recorder (gasp!) on the left, That one was solid Ivory, hand carved, and had been made about 10 years + earlier but never sold. The sockets and tenons fit together perfectly when I was preparing it for sale, no significant warping or ovaling after all those years. And honestly, the humidity in that shop does swing quite a bit from season to season.
Nice recorder rack pic, Loren!
Isn’t it funny how these things come round in lumps? New eBay listing, Stateside this time for those with ivory transport problems: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=120257530464&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=002 - another Drouet.
Looks nice, though in less complete condition - someone’s lost (or sold for scrap) most of the keys, alas. Jon, up your street? The ivory looks in better nick than the magginisupplies one, save for the split-off key blocks.
How true. I picked one up a few months ago that was orginally bought as a gift for a teenage lad who didn’t take to playing. As I recall it was about five years old then and cost me about 500 Euros.
Looking at the one on Ebay, it probably was ‘a number of years ago’ (and you’d want to be a bit careful playing it in if it’s been in storage since then). Is it the one Sarah was selling here March of this year?
It might be just the shortening on the photo, but it looks less tapered than mine is. The metal rings are different in design too. The foot also looks long when you measure the pieces up in the case. You can see the extra length this adds to the bottom left of the wooden case, a good inch or two here I think. Is it a ‘D’ flute I wonder?
I’ve just lined mine up in the case, as near as I can manage by eye from the photo, and would measure the overall difference at somewhere around 35mm shorter than the one on Ebay, but that difference appears to be in the foot length. Hard to be sure.
Yes, I am referring to 170+ year old ivory, that has shrunk, and taken different shapes, such as ovulation. I have closed and glued ivory reamed and re-glued the sleeve, only to have the crack open up, then close again. Quite a bit of movement, My only thoughts would be to try pinning, which I hate the look of. Some early repairers would band the ivory head to keep it closed. I was hoping with the better glue it would help, but no. This happened during outr Santa Ana winds we get in California, where the humidity goes from 50-60% to 12-15%! since I have several cracked ivory heads, it would be nice to find a solution to the problem.