Hello! I’m new here, sadly not a flautist…
I found this flute at a car boot sale at the weekend, I think it’s a band flute/fife, I think it’s cocus wood…
It was made by John Grey & Sons of London, maybe sometime between 1910 and 1940? I’d really appreciate any guidance on what exactly it is, when likely made, etc.
Rather long and detailed post, apologies in advance! For quicker read, my specific questions in bold towards end of post.
It has 6 nickel alloy keys, 2 sections. With all 6 finger holes covered it plays A: well, as blown by me that is, I have no idea how to play! [My online pitch detector says A5, on blowing harder A6. I should also note that some pads are missing, which may (?) affect what note it plays with 6 finger holes covered.]
It’s made of a dark reddish hardwood (presumably cocus, see below), lacquered black. Length 37.6cm, external diameter about 22mm at fat end, 19mm at thin end.
It’s stamped John Grey & Sons LONDON; see photos at bottom. [In fact it appears to be stamped twice with partial overlap, making it very hard to read; but “John G??? & Sons” is decipherable, and eventually I tracked this firm down and found the properly-stamped mark on some photos of bagpipes made by this company. Elsewhere I’ve seen indicated that the John Grey & Sons mark was used from 1911 on. Under this name, Barnett Samuel apparently made a range of wind and string instruments.]
It’s closely similar to two instruments from John Grey & Sons in museum collections (see photos at bottom)…
A “Bb flute” in the collection of the University of Edinburgh:
https://collections.ed.ac.uk/mimed/record/15890?highlight=*:*
A “piccolo flute” in the Bate Collection in Oxford:
https://minim.ac.uk/index.php/explore/?instrument=4420
Both are indicated as cocus wood, both show the “bamboo knuckle” styling at the end of the mouthpiece section. Neither is precisely dated: Edinburgh “early 20th century”, Oxford “20th century”. The bodies appear near-identical to mine, notwithstanding that the Oxford one seems (?) to be missing some metal parts; and indeed the Edinburgh description and photo indicate it’s missing its “D♯ keyhead”. Both museum examples have key shapes slightly different to mine: the part your finger-pad sits on is more elongated, leaf-shaped; mine more rounded. [The Edinburgh notes say that their silver-plated keys may be non-original replacements. One of my small keys appears different to the others, a greyer metal.]
[The bagpipe page mentioned above suggests that the pipes were made for John Grey & Sons by Henry Starck, so perhaps this was also the case for these flutes?]
It has some damage. Most evidently: 2 cracks extending about 2 cm from thin end; all three ferrules cracked full across; the spring bar thingy broken on one key, though all other key springs seem to be fine; patchy degradation of the lacquer, particularly on the mouthpiece section. And I made it a bit worse by scratching to reveal the manufacturer’s mark.
**My specific questions, if anyone able to answer them:
- Is it a marching band instrument?
\ - What’s the correct and/or most widely used name for this instrument?
\ - Is it Bb?
\ - Is there any way of dating it to decade?**
I imagine that, even if restored, it wouldn’t be of much interest to modern players, it perhaps plays at an old pitch? And equally I imagine that it’s of limited interest to collectors, given that it was (I guess) a mid-tier or low-tier instrument in its day. So my questions are more out of geeky interest than in expectation of a holiday in the Caribbean!
Thanks so much for any information or advice you can give, and apologies for butchering the terminology of flute anatomy!
From the Edinburgh page:
Date Made:
Early 20th Century
Description:
Technical description: Cocus; 2 sections; silver-plated keys with german silver pillars; 3 german silver ferrules; oval embouchure-hole; large R2 finger-hole. L0: B♭. L1: T. L2: T. L3: T. L4: G♯. R1: T; C. R2: T. R3: T; F. R4: D♯. Keymount type: rod/pillar. Keyhead type: cylinder cup. Repair History: Keys may have been replaced. Stamped and painted on head “John Grey & Sons” (in script) / “LONDON”. Stamped on body “MADE IN ENGLAND / 27176”. ‘John Grey & Sons’ was used as one of the trade names of Barnett Samuel, but may also have been the name of an independent dealer (Waterhouse 1993, p.146, p.343) Overall size: 372 mm. Sounding length: embouchure to foot, 315 mm. Bore: conical. Performance characteristics: [Original range D⁴ - A⁶ (sounding B♭⁴ - F⁷)]. Present range (due to lack of D♯ keyhead) D♯⁴ - F⁶ (sounding B⁵ - D♭⁷). Usable pitch: Sounding A⁴ c 457 Hz.[/size]
