This time Patrick put on sell a true beauty!
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110427028021
compliments to the first of us that buy it!
[ and as usual I’m out of money 
]
nice photos too!
my question: why sell it only on eBay UK? interesting.
This flute’s been around a bit, last sold on eBay in 2002. Looks like Pat did some work on it.
Looks like a lovely flute!
I love Mr Olwell’s line: (The fact that this head and barrel haven’t cracked shows that this design isn’t inherently flawed and the wood doesn’t “continue to shrink” even after 150 years, as has been asserted by some on the web).
I get nervous around these un-cracked flutes, as I have seen that the wood in all of the antique heads I have repaired, shrinkage of as much as 1mm in diameter! That is a lot of pressure, that builds up!
If the flute lived in London, or Ireland, it’s whole life, you have a better chance of the flute not cracking.
Tick, tick tick…CRACK! 
Sold at the Buy It Now price.
better than fair price, though with the restorative work it had on it.
that flute actually had a siccama style key on hole #6 pillar mounted and the hole enlarged.
in one photo of the auction you can see the inlay that Pat did on the original hole. My guess is it was someone who couldn’t make the reach.
So this one is a player not collector…more importantly it’s sharp and someone with a good lip must have bought it. I don’t doubt they’ll have a new headpiece made for it.
Exactly, Jon. There are two kinds of 19th century lined flutes - those that have cracked and those that have yet to crack. Just because a lucky flute hasn’t cracked yet doesn’t prove anything. We have no easy way of knowing what stress it is under, and what its personal history has been.
It would also be a mistake to believe that all 19th century flutes were born equal. Some would have been made in summer, some in winter. Perversely, the late winter ones might be more lucky, if the wood had been kept in a heated area, it might be drier than wood kept through a long wet summer! If it was stored in unheated conditions, it might be much more at risk. We don’t know how Rudall’s prepared their wood, and whether they were even aware of the problem before the issue of flutes for India became noticed.
Not to say one shouldn’t enjoy a 19th century flute. But one should consider the issues, consider the risks and take the appropriate steps. The appropriate step might be to do nothing, safe in the knowledge that, if it does crack, it can be repaired. Or it might be to do nothing, because the local environment is damp like 19th c London (but hopefully warmer!). Or it might be to humidfy the flute to ensure it’s kept comfortable. Or store the flute in an unheated part of the house in winter. It’s the owner’s choice, but it’s a choice they should be encouraged to think through, not obscured by rose-coloured glasses.
I’ve just downloaded a datalogger I deployed in March in our National Carillon. It illustrates the instruments had endured a temperature range of 20 celcius degrees (36 Fahrenheit degrees) and a relative humidity range of 50%, from 75% down to 25%. For woodwork built around 1970 in northern England. So no wonder the solid oak resonator boards had split where they are perforated to hold a row of 2" diameter brass resonator tubes. They’d re-invented the lined flute head!
Terry
Would not that be Rudall & Rose colored glasses?
Sorry, but I’m afraid I couldn’t stop myself.
To be rued all day! I suppose We have to allow that you rose to the occasion, though.
“We don’t know how Rudall’s prepared their wood, and whether they were even aware of the problem before the issue of flutes for India became noticed.” Terry.
Did Rudall & Rose make many flutes for India? Does this mean that there could be a number of R&R flutes to be found in New Delhi, Bombay etc.?
If they’d survived. The Indian climate was notoriously hard on woodwinds designed for northern Europe. Eventually early ebonite and all-metal versions were tried, but the arrival of the all metal boehm swept them away. No idea what clarinets did, but presumably they’d have had the same issues.
And Patrick Did it again!
and it’s R&R 2821 (small holes) this time!
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110442992397
again compliments to the first (of us) that will buy it!