Hi, can anyone help give me more info this, it says Boosey and Hawkes “Excelsior”, it is 51cm long and open ended.
Many thanks
Clearly a French flute, Ivor, rebadged as a Boosey & Co Excelsior. Small holes, short D foot, post-mounted, G# key over the top and under the C key.
The French excelled in making low-priced flutes - indeed, they set up factories to make flutes by steam, while the English were still using treadle lathes.
(Meanwhile, the Irish, under the direction of The Great Emancipator, Daniel O’Connell, were allegedly making babies by steam: http://www.binneas.com/Making%20babies%20by%20steam.htm)
English companies like Boosey bought them unbadged, and rebadged them with their name. We see Nightingale flutes here in Australia, again, clearly French in origin, but with a local badge. Not that the Nightingale is a local bird. But if you’ve ever heard our cockatoo, you’d realise nobody would buy a flute by that name! Sckraarrk!
Marketing. I seem to remember you could buy a British Motor Corporation 1100 in 6 versions - Morris, Wolseley, Austin, MG, Riley and Vanden Plas. The major difference being the radiator design, although you scored an extra carburettor with the MG.
Awsome stuff Terry McGee. Think the marketing men missed a trick not naming the learner flutes the cockatoo.
My next question is can you give me an idea of it’s age? I have too many collecting interests at the moment and would like to sell this to feed one of my other addictions.
Could you advise if I should list this in single, double or please god, triple figures.
Thanks for your help.
[
Marketing. I seem to remember you could buy a British Motor Corporation 1100 in 6 versions - Morris, Wolseley, Austin, MG, Riley and Vanden Plas. The major difference being the radiator design, although you scored an extra carburettor with the MG.[/quote]
And you got Lucas electronics with them all…Joseph Lucas, inventor of the intermittent windshield wipers! 
Piper Joe
Lucas! Prince of Darkness!
Bob
It is an F flute. The smaller flutes nearly always have the French style G# key, but I’m not sure if they are actually made in France. Had it been a D flute I would certainly agree with Terry’s assessment, and it may well be true that all the smaller F and Bb flutes were mass produced in France, but I’m not sure about that.
As to value, it is not likely to be worth much over $200, especially if it is a high pitched flute. The higher pitched band instruments are quite common and don’t fetch much because they are not usable for group playing at the modern A=440 hz pitch standard. An A=440 hz F flute would fetch a bit more on eBay, but probably still under $300.