http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3723775876
Give me your impressions on this strange rudall
and of course it’s Not mine. eh eh!
Frank
No shot of the embouchure. Were endcap screws made of ivory?? 
Interesting if I had the money I might bid but I am afraid of taking care of wood and owning something of this value. 
Yes, that looks right. The cap is missing. The long F and C are bent. Nice color. May need a new head, depending on the state of the blowhole that’s not seen. Looks like a nice flute.
g
The people sellingit don’t know what key it’s in,
they appear to know nothing about flutes,
also it’s cracked. No photo of the
embouchure hole. I’m leery of this thing.
22 inches in length?? - kinda short for D - maybe higher pitch
the way the keys are bent - does that suit a lefty?
mumble mumble…
wait guys, just have a look to Rudall & rose of the same period
keys are very differents and even wood and style (of course it’s similar but…) and even the brand lack the 4 petalled flower or the rudall’s crown
could be one of the famous 19th R&R copies?
of course is a right handed flute (keys are only twisted
and the blowing hole is probably turned
Frank
This IS in fact a REAL Rudall, unlisted until now.
To make a few things straight…the 4-Petal stamp did NOT appear on the Rudall flutes until about serial #3000+
Before that, there were NO petal marks (called Quattrefoils).
See more on that at:
http://home.earthlink.net/~dmigoya616/id17.htm
This is the “myths” section of www.rudallrose.com
Anyway…the other odd thing of this flute, but it FITS the time frame, is the lack of the strike plates (should be square silver) on the pewter plug foot keys. How does it fit? Because I just purchased RR#1900, which has the same thing, no strike plates. Then what do they have? Little silver tubes set into the wood, and the plugs set into them. It was something many of the older flutes did, such as D’Almaine and Potter. Jimmy Noonan’s rudall, which has pewter plugs on all the keys, is set up this way for them all. See the website for the photos of #1156.
Anyway…this is a great find, even with the cracks and bent keys!
Ivory screw caps and rings were very much in vogue. And the flute is cocus. RR did not use rosewood.
Should go for about $3000-3500 US.
dm
I should note that the missing crown was likely ivory as well, based on other Rudalls of this type. Note, too, that the barrel appears to be (I can’t tell for sure from the photo…i’m in touch with the seller) with covered wood instead of exposed silver at the tube. Very nice touch that Rudall rarely did this way. It was a common tactic of Potter and D’Almaine. Never let it be said that Rudall & Rose never copied something they didn’t like!
And the ivory ring for the lower part of the head joint just above the barrel appears to be missing.
I was looking at another one with the same footholes only yesterday .I thaught they were normal !
You will find the left handed one in the Dayton Miller collection the same if you look ,David .
So right, Andrew. I’ve had that lefty Rudall catalogued for some time.
You can see it here on my website of www.rudallrose.com
http://home.earthlink.net/~dmigoya616/id96__3555.htm
Here’s the Dayton Miller “card” on it:
Serial No: 3555
Stamp: {Quattrefoil}/RUDALL & ROSE/No. 15 PIAZZA/COVENT GARDEN/LONDON/3555/{Quattrefoil}
Approx. Date: 1838
Pitch: D
Lowest Note: C
Owner: Museum (Dayton Miller Collection, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., USA)
Provenance: W. Hayes, London, England (Sept. 1930)
Timber: Cocus
Headpiece: Regular slide
Rings: Ivory
No. Keys: 8 (Sterling silver saltspoon)
Foot Keys: 3 (2 Pewter Plugs/Square Plates)
Mounts: Block
Unusual Features: Left-handed flute; Ivory screw cap
Notes: DCM #0956
I’ve heard there’s at least one other left-handed Rudall/Rose out there, apparently Patsy has it, and it’s in boxwood.
Perhaps you can wrest that information from him, eh?
dm
Send your army over to him .Or one of those nice little dogs ! Then he’ll tell you anything ! But you mustn’t damage him .I hope he will help me with my new song " Springtime for Rumsfeld ".
i wasn’t suggesting that the flute was made for a left handed playing, obviously it is righthanded, but perhaps some lefthanded player once owned or played the flute and bent the keys so that they could gain access to the them in some unorthodox sort-of-way (since the bent keys are a little funky and unusual looking, almost like they were bent to serve some purpose or reason other than their original function.
I see that Jayhawk values flutes in F like this at $ 1000 , and D Rudalls at $3000.
Do you really think an F flute is worth $5000 Mr Migoya ? ( I know what a moderate view you take of my F Boosey ! ) .
Andrew - my Rudall and Rose collection consists entirely of the following flutes (Seery, German Anonymous, homemade bamboo). If you feel any of these D flutes is worth $3,000, I’ll gladly sell them to you…please consider the bamboo, as I can make as many as you need at that price.
Yours in service,
Eric
There’s an imposter on a yahoo flute site using your name .The flutes you describe , worthy as they no doubt are , are not Rudalls & Rose flutes !
Now I’ll have to go look at the Yahoo group. Thanks for clearing up the mystery Andrew! Still, the bamboo flutes are for sale at the aforementioned $3,000 each which is a really good deal for all you Britts considering the weak dollar.
Eric
Andrew
you’re so right! I completely missed that this is an F (F# more likely) flute because of it’s length! And worked it out this morning with ruler in hand on my own flutes.
Had it been a D flute, then surely it was worth the $3,000-$3500 that I had noted. Why? Ivory, the different foot plug configuration, the early number, etc.
As an F flute, though, you’re more likely right that it’s barely the $1,000. Your Boosey, I still say, is about the $1500 or so that I’ve said earlier. But that’s just me! 
I’m concerned of its tuning, too. The only Rudall F that I’ve had and played was actually in F# at 440, F at about 432 or so.
dm
432 is probably right, but it would have been the other way around, right? A F in A=440 is more or less equal to an F# in A=415 (Baroque tuning). A=432 is somwhere in the middle. So this flute probably plays somewhat flatter than a modern F?
g
Speaking of bent keys, the same is true of this eBay flute:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3725591844
Kevin Krell
Well, that certainly brings the Cnat key close to the RH index finger… On the other hand (no pun intended, just noticed it AFTER I typed it), the long F key isn’t just bent, it’s broken off at the block. That would probably make it a bit less convenient to use.
Steven