thread + pad + $$$$$ 
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230137771450
The price is more than unrealistic IMO.
I think the key words are āmuseum qualityā. Theyāre not selling for a player here but instead are marketing to the museumsā¦
Eric
. . . which is insane because museums canāt afford stuff like that. Thatās why all the cool stuff in museums is part of so-n-soās collection.
Wow, $8500. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.
Stuart
Maybe I just have a skewed perception of what the museum market could handle having the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in KC. It doesnāt have an instrument collection (that Iām aware of - they have 3 times more stuff in storage than on display - although a new addition opens this weekend more than doubling the size of the museum and Iām hoping they bring up some really cool stuff), but they routinely buy works of art or antiquities, well, lets simply say a tiny bit more than $8,500 (several hundred thousand dollars isnāt uncommon).
Just the other week a rare painting was reclaimed by the family that had it on loan to the Nelson, and they sold it for several million dollars. The Nelson was mad because the family didnāt give them a chance to bid on itā¦thereās some serious money behind that museum.
Eric
A lot of art museums have enormous endowments, thatās true. Museums that would deal with instruments . . . itās not uncommon for them to track historically relevant instruments and ask for them to be left to the museum in wills.
Some of it is economics, too. You can put a painting up at auction and get the money if you need it . . . flutes (et al.) arenāt quite as consistent. Violins, sure. I donāt mean to start a flame war with that comment, either.
Stuart
Thatās a good point. I canāt believe you said that about violinsā¦where is a moderator when you need one?
Eric
We have the Fiske Museum of Musical Instruments in Claremont, CA. just up the freeway from me. I have been meaning to check the place out, thye have a nice Nickolsonās Improved flute there. But I suspect I have a better collection of flutes! Maybe I should put them in my will? I like the idea of having a flute museum, where all the instruments are kept in playing order, where musicians can come and play them. Wouldnāt that be cool?
well, yeah
Hahahahahahaha!
Iāve taken over! There are no moderators, only MY WILL! ITāS LAW!
Stuart
I sure canāt afford it, but I donāt know that that price is so unrealistic, especially from a reputable commercial dealer. Serious Period Instrument performers might well be willing to pay that for a flute in such good condition with several corps de rechange at usable pitches. It certainly isnāt the sort of money we usually look at in the ITM world, but in Classical terms, its peanuts! Just look at the price of even a half-decent modern student bassoon! Or even of a good pro-level bespoke Boehm flute. And fiddles are a whole other world! I mentioned on another thread recently knowing of a good ivory baroque flute selling for cĀ£4000 back in the 1980s.
Actually (drifting the thread a bitā¦), itās a bit of a bug-bear of mine, especially with regard to parents of school kids who baulk at the cost of a starter instrument (Iām probably thinking more of the mainstream classical context here, though it can happen in Folk circles too). You so often hear people whinging that theyāve had to pay cĀ£200 for a school level clarinet or violin or whatever, yet the same folk will think nothing of spending far higher sums on, say, sports gear for the same little darlings. I mean, dang it, surfboards or kayaks start at around that level. Football boots can be Ā£50-ish and up. A set of four tennis rackets for a reasonably serious student tennis player? A sporty mountain bike or road bike? A motocross/scrambling motorbike? Or, for that matter, computer games stuff??? If you make the right comparisons, music gear at entry-to-medium levels is really not dear compared to other pastimes - and it mostly pretty much retains its value, unlike sports gear.
Aaaaaah! Feel better now Iāve got that off my chest!
Back to the main driftā¦ I do think it is important that there are well conserved museum collections of instruments to ensure their preservation and continued availabilty for inspection, but I equally always feel it is a shame when a fine, playable instrument (or one that could reasonably readily be made so without damaging its historic/conservation status) is consigned to silence. Iād far rather see and hear it being played. I rather doubt whether even the more major instrument collections in museums in Britain have much in the way of acquisitons budgets, though I have no real knowledge about that, just a lay-persons suspicions based on external appearances and general knowledge of public finances!!!
Exactly jem,
Where $8500 is dear for most of us, many museum wouldnāt bat an eye at prices like this. Instrument prices are out there, Amati violins asideā¦consider what is being asked for a new decent set of uilleann pipes. Check out the prices for antique keyboard instruments sometime! Or even non-antique keyboard instruments for that matter!! Thankfully it is possible to find antique flutes that are more within reach.
As a parent, I am amazed at how some other parents will think nothing of spending a small fortune on fad clothing and sporting goods that their children will either outgrow or destroy in a year!!! Yet, back when I was in the full time instrument making/leasing business, parents scoffed at $30 month (Something like 21 Euros) for renting out a good size lever harp. We were able sell my daughterās first student violin when she outgrew it. The same could not be said of her football shoes!!!