Oooh, feis moms. Just the phrase makes me quake.
David Shorey, former curator of the Dayton Miller collection, once offered the Claude Laurent flute he purchased from the estate of famed conductor Arthur Fiedler, for $20,000. Perhaps that’s where this seller gets his information, as many of the same wording is used.
Andrew is right that one sold last week in London for @ $7,000 US, but it needs restoring.
According to Shorey, only 54 of these flutes exist. Are they worth that much? Matter of the beholder. But consider it was a special order at the time by many heads of state (Napoleon’s brother, the king of Austria, ordered one for his court composer/performer, famed fluteplayer Drouet…not to mention the James Madison one, etc).
These are miraculously delicious sounding flutes with a clarity and purity of tone unmatched. I must say, too, that the glass does not change with the years and the elements. So, what you see now is essentially as it was made.
And, these were the first flutes to use pillar mounts! That’s history!
I should note, I have nothing to do with this flute (and find it insane someone would sell it on eBay rather than find a private buyer). But there it is.
For me, i’d rather have a Pratten or Rudall original to add to my stable.
dave migoya
the seller writes that one recently sold for more then $40K.
For sure a collectors item and not a session machine.
Dave are you aware of any recordings done on one of Laurent’s flutes?
I was puzzled by the idea that the Laurent flute sold here recently needed restoration .It looked OK to me , (but who am I to say ) , so I checked with Mr Wilkes and he can’t remember anything obvious either.
so right andrew…didn’t need any parts replaced in the traditional definition of “restorating”…
but it needs pads, the cork is awful and the lapping needs redoing. Minor fixes, of course.
And the purchasor told me in an email that there were indeed chips to the glass here and there. Never having owned a glass flute, I can’t say what that would require, if anything.
There was a recording on a Laurent flute, Eilam, but the name/artist eludes me. I’m sure David Shorey will know.
dm
I think , David , if I had just bought the flute for about 1/5th of the retail price ( according to my ex-Sotheby’s mate ) I could stand the prospect of putting 5 new pads on it , and even some thread .
The interesting thing about the Laurent I saw sold was that it had its original blue glass end cap .