Rudall & Rose no. 4866 is on E-bay now. “Near mint condition”, location SF Bay area (not New Orelans as I first wrote here). This flute was on offer on a Facebook flute site on September 6th, 2014. Looks nice with original box with numbered certificate, grease pot and cleaning rod.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Rudall-Rose-Flute-in-near-mint-condition-/121527537126?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c4b9b0de6
Interesting. When I clicked the link, the location is Santa Cruz, California. And the description talks about a patent head (which does not appear to be present). Other than, that, she’s gorgeous.
Yes Kevin you’re quite right. Karlton Hester, a New Orleans jazz musician, owned the flute in September and was considering sellng it. Looks like he did sell it to someone in the SF Bay area, prehaps Daniel Deitch who repaired a crack in the back of the head joint? This flute didn’t have a PH in September or any cracks according to the owner. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10153191452853636&set=gm.848916081820544&type=1&theater
The nonexistant patent head blurb seems to come from Shorey’s site
http://www.antiqueflutes.com/product.php?id=932
“No. 15 PIAZZA / COVENT GARDEN”
No bids for 4866. Not so surprising, seems like a fine flute well worth 4000 USD (2567 GBP) (3300 euros), but with a more accurate description of the flute and a lower starting price I think the bidding would have started, and maybe he would have got his reserve price, prehaps more as the flute is ready to play. I see that Karlton is still the owner, hadn’t sold the flute as I thought, just had it renovated by Daniel Deitch’s shop http://www.danieldeitch.com/
auction was closed by the seller: he may got a resonable offer off ebay (so we may expect at least more than the minimum bid-No surprise: good flute for good value).