I noticed this morning that there were a number of original Rudall and Rose flutes at Sothebys (http://www.sothebys.com click on Early Instruments then Browse Catalog) for auction on Tuesday morning. I was wondering if anyone was considering trying for any of these.
Cheers!
Casey Burns
Hi Casey,
Welcome to the Forum.
I noticed that one of the Rudall and Rose flutes is #1! Must be the first one. I don’t think I could afford 3,000 Yuros right now… :roll:
Jon
What a shame that there are no images, or serial numbers.
Ebay is so convenient! Dangerously so.
I’ve got photos of all three of the flutes.
The boxwood is a nice flute, but small-holed. The missing keys are long-C and Long-F (it’s a six-key).
The other two are both nice, too, although unremarkable for Rudalls.
The note that one of them is serial #`1 is not accurate (at least for the simple-system ones for sale).
I am not buying any of them, but I’m sure they will find good homes.
One of the flutes has missing(unreadable) serial numbers, so it is advertised as 19
Based on the style, keys and such, I’ve offered Sotheby’s what I believe is the right thousand-series number for it. I’ve a friend there who will eyeball the flute directly today to see if the first digit is legible and we can posit it into the database accurately.
Still, beautiful flutes. And the other note of not affording 3,000 Euro…note, Sotheby’s deals in GBP sterling, which is discernably higher in exchange rate with the US dollar (about $1.65 for 1 GBP). So a 3000 GBP sale is roughly near $6,000 after all fees are accounted in.
dm
by the way…
the boxwood six-key is serial number 1040
the first 8-key (which has the horn-bushed embouchure) is serial number 1317
The third, which has the foot piece to the low Bb, is the one with the 19 serial number.
Cool! Hey Dave, when are you going to get around to posting (for posterity) the detials and photo of #5384 in your catalogue? 
Need any new photos?
no, what i need is more website space!
i’m actually waiting on my own lethargy to redesign the site and split it between several empty pages I have reserved.
sigh
so many Rudalls…
dave
SOTHEBY’S results :- ( exchange rate £1 = around $ 1.70 or more )
6 key boxwood …£ 3000 inc premium
8 key cocus ( described by the cretins at Sotheby’s as rosewood as usual !!!) … £4200 inc.
10 key cocus unsold
Frightening!
oh my gosh
now that’s really getting silly!
3000 GBP is @ $5,100 US
add the 17.5% hammer premium ($893)
that is not…NOT…a $6,000 Rudall
…
the other, at 4200 GBP…
$7140 US (+ premium of $1249)…$8,380???
Now things are surely out of hand.
If this is the new market (and the English prices on Rudalls have been going higher than in the states, which were once higher), then I’d better change my insurance policies!
dm
David,
Are you getting carried away here, Andrew posted the prices including premium. If these are the prices paid by the buyers they have still pushed the prices up a long way. Without seeing the instrument close up you just can’t say whether these are fair or indicative prices. Compared to these though, that Boosey on e-bay still looks overpriced, maybe by about $1,000+.
When my friend bought the Boosey at Southeby’s 20 years ago we spent some time chatting with Steve Chambers and Peadar O’Loughlin’s brother (can’t remember his name) comparing the Boosey with a Rudall that I think went for about £1,000 or £1,100 - allowing for the crack in the barrel on the Boosey and the Rudall was in top nick, I’d say 30% to 40% more for the Rudall is reasonable. I actually preferred the playing quality of the Boosey myself.
Ken
The prices that Andrew gave us ($5,100 and $7,185) do include the buyer’s premium.
Still, that’s a high price to pay for a six-keyed Rudall lacking the long F and long C, even if it is boxwood, and even more extravagant for a cocus Rudall with a questionable embouchure (horn ring inset).
On the other hand, a fine mid-19th. C. French or Italian violin would be a bargain at these prices. Is there upward movement left from these prices? Or is the market tapped out, particularly for traditional players as compared to classical players?
you’d be right
i hopped the boat
didn’t realize andrew gave us the VAT inclusive
whew
still…$7k for an unremarkable Rudall?
Even w/o the VAT on that one, it’s $6k+
I wouldn’t even expect to GET that from one of my own run-of-the-mill Rudalls, and barely for my best ones.
What would a fully-keyed Olwell in Cocus or Boxwood get then?
And with the craze in Bb flutes, what about a fully keyed Bb Rudall?
Cripes!
I’m with Levine…buy them now, sell them 5-10 years from now!
dm
I wasn’t talking about vat .but the auction premium , which will include some vat, but may not be paid by people from distant parts of the galaxy
(Americans ? )
The boxwood flute sold for a small proportion of the latest price recently, but on a day when I was short ( nothing unusual ! ) .
The prices excluding premium were
Boxwood £2,500
cocus £3,500
The last one I bid on in London ,which was in fine condition - * key cocus - went for £2000
Apologies the “*” was a badly typed " 8 "