I’d be willing to help out that way for established C&F folk who wish to bid, sure. Just tell the vendor (and me!) that’s what’s planned before bidding.
I see that as well as myself and Casey, a certain Miss Delaney (undisguised) expressed an interest on eBay… and I’m sure David M has his beady eye well focussed… 
was this a “known” one, David?
mmm, mmm, this flute was offered to me few months ago (at about twice the price you can see on ebay). It took about 8 months wait just to recive the photos you can see now in the auction. According to what I know the seller is a trustable Lady and a nice player too, but maybe she don’t want to show up. The flute got a private offer of £3.000, I guess this is good for the seller.
I haven’t seen the flute “in person” but I’ve managed to add online what I have in my hands… Click on this link
I wish this will be of some help..
oh, comments on the flute itself…
Cool looking Rudall with small - medium holes size.
A crack in the barrel, another crack in the back of the head and the C/C# block has that wired reparation.
Should be a nice one, but not suitable to me and maybe not the best for ITM.
Oooh - nice to see the lined keyways. Looks as if the repair to the C/C# block is just 4 screws to hold it together, when the block probably should have been replaced instead. Too bad it couldn’t have been done a little less visibly.
Is this a lady’s flute? Maybe a special order for a lady back in the day? I find the rings, and especially the keys far too “blingy”. Tastes differ I know, but this surely can’t be an instrument for a bloke to take down the pub? It looks too pretty and pointlessly over the top for blasting out a down to earth mad reel. Next
If it is able to blast out a down to earth mad reel, I wouldn’t care too much of the apparence.
Here are bigger photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/112475301297492981309/09Mag2011?authkey=Gv1sRgCLXfiMyNkvTs-AE#5604826378970918322
Not exactly great, but you can see some details. I’d take it right away, for the bling. Like those works of art, I remember a Scott/Ribas flute equally decorated…shows good silverwork skills.
edit http://sites.google.com/site/ribasmusicos2/flautaribas’simprovedbyscott ← there. They left out the keys though, bummer! There’s still potential of bling.
edit > http://sites.google.com/site/ribasmusic > … vedbyscott ← there. They left out the keys though, bummer! There’s still potential of bling.
Oh man, pratten style! I actally like it more with simpler looking keys, and decorations elsewere. I’m more impressed with the look of this one (but I sill like the more simple standard) rather than the ebay one, despite the pin mounted keys and the not particularly nice (imo) rings on the tone holes.
Somewhat off-topic but following on from Steffen’s post - the last couple of times I met the late Paul Davis the flute he was playing as his own main ITM blaster was a very ornately decorated flute - the surface of the wood was all carved (as I seem to recall), rather like the all-carved ivory R&R we often see pics of, but it also had very fancy (and heavy) silver-work. I’m afraid I don’t recall the details… so far as I remember, Paul said it was a Portuguese flute in English style or some such combination - could well have been another Ribas/Scott (I simply don’t remember a brand-name at all, though I’m sure it had one, wasn’t anonymous)… and that it had a larger than usual bore. Whatever, it was a fantastic player in his hands - and even I as I was then (must be 15+ years ago?) got a stonking noise from it. I wonder what became of it (and all the fantastic flutes and concertinas Paul indubitably had in stock when he died)? Can anyone else who knew/met him remember (more about) that flute? He liked it for its tone and power - the fancy dress was just a bonus.
clearly a record.
$10,000 US 
insane.
Truly truly insane.
Oh man…! 
Who’s the silly billy who paid that?!
not I (though I did bid…way way less)…
but I have three names in mind …perhaps 4…who I believe would.
two are private (one a businessman, the other a collector)
the other two actually appear on C&F on occassion.
Lot o’ money to put into something you have only a couple of crummy pictures of… But the world is an interesting place!
Not so silly. There are at least two people who think it’s worth more than $10,000. There may be many more bidders close to that mark, who were pre-empted by the higher bids and thus don’t show. If the gorgeous key-work is any indication it will be a superb instrument. Other exceptional Rudalls have sold for around the $7,000 mark. Even at that price ($10,000) the eBay flute is a bargain compared to the prices being paid for some modern violins. It will be a while before we see something like that for sale again on eBay.
seeing as there are only 4 that i’ve ever seen like this, you’re right, DL
but $10k? doesn’t matter that a violin gets that. The violin as such is still a part of the modern orchestra…and hasn’tthe same tuning issues.
You don’t buy a classic Rudall like this for use on the orchestral circuit (lest it’s period-tuned music). An i would never – despite a healthy love for Rudall/Rose – begin to think of putting them in the same breath as the great violin makers.
No…the price is clearly for collectibility only. I can’t conceive otherwise.
And we all know how the $7000 mark has gotten that way: someone asks and someone pays.
Darn would love to sell one for that someday…but just can’t. I liketo leave just a little bit of value for the new owner to have!
what’s that make the Ivory Rudall/Rose worth? $20,000?
it’s laughable!
For that matter, i own the “first” Rudall/Rose flute arguably, and that should garner, what, $30,000? Being the most historically significant?
What ofthe oldest-yet-known Pratten that Ihave (#27)? $30,000 too since there are even fewer Prattens that were made?
I suppose it’s certainly relative. But it’s just hard to accept.
N-O-W-A-Y
That price is a way too high.
But…
I would like to remind everyone that no one can have a “NEW” R&R,
the market for antique rare musical instrument IS, SHOULD and MUST BE, exspensive.
You can always buy a copy from a new maker, and some of those flutes are wonderful, maybe far better than
original, but a truly original instrument, IMHO, is worthy such amount of money.
Old boehm flutes, and not all of them are wonderful players, are sold for even more money.
I guess that a museum, could pay a lot of money for such an ornate rudall.
And will be a good way to spend money even of nobody will play it, unfortunately.
So, in the very end, We should not forget that original Rudalls are Cool, and so they will be FOREVER! 
6.433 sterling!!! I wonder did the Lord of the dance buy this for his collection? A lot of money for a lot of bling
Has Lord of the Dance bought many flutes on ebay? What kinds does anyone know?
I generally agree with DM, aside from the personal sniping – but would point out that modern orchestral players seldom spend more than $5,000 for a suitable instrument. The market for a vintage fiddle, comparable to a vintage flute, isn’t the working orchestral musician. When you are one among forty strings the instrument isn’t as critical as if you were playing in a string quartet or doing solo work. What is important to the modern working orchestral musician isn’t the provenance but the condition: that the instrument doesn’t open up or separate, that the pegs fit properly, that the instrument is dependable and suitable for its purpose.
Same thing I suppose for the modern traditional session player. Most of us don’t have to have the absolute best instrument - but if you can afford it, sure, why not? Many modern fiddles sell for well over $60,000. Compare a keyed cocus Olwell, even at $7,000, to the best modern-made fiddle, which will sell for well over $20,000.*
Even at $7,000 the keyed cocus Olwell is a bargain. I’m sure that many of us (not me) drive cars that cost more than $7,000. Instruments made by other modern makers command premium prices that are much higher than the price set by the maker. Chris Wilkes’ flutes come to mind. A set of Jeff Wooff’s pipes sells for well over $15,000 on the secondary market (last I spoke with Jeff his waiting list was 17 years). A Wally Carroll or Dipper or Jurgen Suttner concertina will fetch more than the price FOB. You either wait for the instrument, with no guarantee it will ever arrive at your door, or you pay the price for a used one. And comes to that, I have no doubt that there is more than “just a little bit of value for the new owner to have” on the recent Olwell sale. Even at $7,000!
*After the death of Isaac Stern in 2001, his estate [sold] his entire collection of instruments… Among the many world record prices seen in the sale was an astonishing $130,000 paid for a [violin] by Brooklyn maker Samuel Zygmantowicz. q.v. also http://www.violinist.com/discussion/response.cfm?ID=4665.
I think the point here is that this Rudall has not been tried and tested, and is glimpsed only in a few fragmentary photos and cannot be verified as being in tune, or anything else. Hopefully the payer here was able to test the instrument before paying for it, because if he/she did not test this flute, then the buyer judged the book by its cover, put looks before personality, etc. 
Don’t I sound so judgmental? Well that’s because I’m jealous! Looked like a lovely flute indeed, well done whoever 