A couple of weeks ago I purchased a used (circa 1975) Yamaha solid Sterling silver flute on ebay. It had recently been used by a jazz musician in Los Angeles, who, no doubt, like most musicians, probably needed the money to survive. I like the plateau-style (closed-hole) keys that allow me to play with flat fingers on my right hand, as I do on simple-system flutes, and not worry about leaks. I was curious about the silver value of the flute versus what I paid for it. The price yesterday for Sterling silver was $31/Troy ounce. The flute weighs 15.2 avoirdupois ounces. Dropping the two tenths for steel pins and springs and converting to Troy ounces, the flute weighs about 13.67 Troy ounces. Therefore, we can calculate the silver value of the flute as $31/ounce x 13.67 Troy ounces = $423.77. I paid $425 + shipping for the flute, which shows that I wouldn’t be much of a precious metal merchant. By the way the seller was really quite concerned that I might be wanting to melt down his flute, and he didn’t want that.
I should get a bid up for this solid gold flute but I still have plenty of time to place my bid.