Can anyone give me any info on what a La Premiere flute is.It’s black wood with chrome or silver mouth piece and keys.I don’t have a pic.I saw the ad on craigslist.
Please help
Brian
Post the link to the craigslist ad and we can have a look for you - can’t say much otherwise…
there’s no photo
I’d gathered that - could still do with more info… or is what you reported all there is? Just guessing, but it is almost certainly a Bohm flute, probably a low-level student instrument, maybe Chinese if it is wooden. The marque is not known to me, but then I don’t specialise in Bohm flutes. I assume you’ve tried some Googling on the obvious key-words…
yes it’s a Bohm flute I think? He said it has 17 holes.It’s old.A freind gave it to him years ago. Chinese???
17 holes would almost certainly be Bohm (probably with a B foot), though that is not a way a Bohm flute would normally be described (save by the Chinese - see multifarious eBay ads). If it is more than 10 years old it is unlikely to be Chinese, sure… but the apparent Frenchness of the marque doesn’t mean it can’t be Chinese! (Or American or anything else…) China is rather notoriously churning out quite high quantities of wooden Bohm flutes which are prone to cracks and have too-soft metal mechanisms which wear out/go out of regulation too easily. I’m afraid this is about as far as we can go without much better details and preferably a picture. Have you tried asking the craigslister for pictures?
Here’s something from the clarinet BBS to muddy the waters.
http://www.woodwind.org/clarinet/Equipment/HasAnyoneHeard.html
Although it’s not stated, the implication is that the information in the table comes from Langwill’s. I’m not sure what “U.S. government - imported” means, unless they were originally purchased for military bands. This would make me lean toward it being an older import from somewhere in Europe rather than a new import from China. That still doesn’t mean it’s anything more than a nice wall hanging though.
or a C foot if they were counting the blow hole 
The guy doesn’t know if it’s playable and he lives a ways away for me to just check it out .So…I would like some advice on how much I should offer with the info given.It was an import from the government ???From somewhere??
Please give it a try
Brian
Brian, I’d like to be more helpful, but honestly, we simply do not have sufficient information/knowledge here responsibly to offer you any advice specific to this flute. I certainly can’t estimate value or what might be a reasonable offer (i.e. with a chance of being accepted) in the owner’s eyes! General advice would be not to waste your money on something you are not reasonably sure about. As things stand you don’t know anything except that it is a wooden or partly wooden (could have a metal head-joint) flute, possibly but not certainly Bohm system, with an obscure marque and in unknown condition. Not enough!
At least ask him for some pictures! In these days of mobile phone cameras, that really isn’t such a big ask! With pictures we might (no guarantees!) be able to tell you a bit more/make some kind of assessment. If the vendor really wants to sell, he should be happy to oblige - he could even text you the pics! Just ask him to do them in natural diffuse light (e.g. outdoors on a cloudy day) or similar light conditions if possible and to do each joint separately from at least two angles as well as the whole flute assembled and a close-up of the stamp. If he doesn’t want to help, best not to buy from him at any price, unless he’s willing to part with it for under U$100 (at which it might be worth you taking a punt on it - bear in mind it may be rubbish/not at modern pitch/in need of repairs or at least overhaul).
You can get a brand new Boehm flute for about $100 on ebay (not that they are worth any more than that)
You can get a solid silver, name brand, from a reputable dealer on ebay for under $1,000
No one knows, or is willing to admit to knowing, what this thing is, so why bother?
not to mention that this is not a Boehm flute forum 