I have an old fife stamped on the head is ‘Blackman patent improved London’ on the body is ‘Blackman patent improved blackfriars r? London’. As far as I can suss with it it’s cocus wood with silver rings and one key in Bb. I’m not a flute player really just had a few lessons in school enough to get a scale out of it. Can anyone give me more info about it like, a specific date or something like that? Thanks
Blackfriars Rd seems to cover the period 1845 to 1882, if you have a number we can narrow it down further.
He was a little loose with the truth in terms of the patent - he did not take out a patent. It was quite common to call flutes patent even when they were not. Rockstro criticised Boehm for it over his 1831 flute, although he should have criticised the London makers of the flute, not Boehm.
Terry
Thanks for the info. I don’t see a number on it where would it usually be?