The link to the auction is here
Estimated price is 2000 EUR.

wha-wha-what is it? ![]()
t
It looks Taylorish, one reg.
And yet not Taylor.
t
wha-wha-what is it?
Dunno, but it comes with a soufflé.
Can’t see more than one reg, looks like Taylor-style keys.
Anyone have any ideas?
Definitely Tayloresque. It’s got the bass drone going in back through the mainstock. Interesting set.
“Soufflet” is bellows.
The bellows are made out of eggs??? Those clever French folk. ![]()
I have a set of bellows identical to those
. Too bad they’re in France. The issues with getting a set with that much Ivory into the US are manifold.
Dionys
I contacted the seller and let you know if I get any information.
Early Chris Bayley maybe? - but the stock looks very extended, and somewhat strange with both brass and some silver material, prehaps homemade for a corpulent piper?
A few images sen to me by Chris Bayley. These photos are from the auctioneers
This is not one of his and he has remarked that it is an early set of Union Pipes with
a later addition of a regulator in the Taylor style, perhaps Patsy Brown.








I am also of the opinion that the chanter featured here (an obvious Tayloresque design) is by the same maker of the reg.
Once again, Joseph is first.
I got the pix tonight. Strange, but nice set, isn’t it?
I got no answer about maker, age, reeds, bellows maker, etc.
An expert should be at office on friday, I’ll try to get some info (except if some of you want to improve his french speaking, of course…)
So if anyone is interested, post your questions here, and I’ll try to get answers (eventhough I suspect the expert is not Irish music expert: the term uilleann pipe isn’t used at all).
Best
What do you think of this? Look at the sequel of the trims.
It is a set by J. Egan. What stands J for? How was he related to Michael?
The position of the reg seems to be where the tenor drone is. The chanter looks Patsy Brownish indeed.
Cheers,
Hans
Why is the chanter in silver and the reg in brass? Reg looks to be a bit nicer work too. Chanter has long block mounts (Taylorish) but every P Brown stick I’ve seen had the other type of Taylor keys, mounted on the back, and the requisite popping valve. This looks more like crude chanters I’ve seen attributed to Brennan and the like, Brown made better stuff.
Nice dovetails on that reg. Mickey Zekley’s (Mr. Lark in the AM) old set is brass Taylor-ish.
What do you mean by “the sequel of the trims,” Hans-Joerg? The end of the mounts? Or the shape? Shapes like that were more common on early pipes - more medieval, bagpipy. You see the same thing on early GHB and continental pipes. Union pipe mounts changed at some point to the kind of thing we see on the set for sale here - more “Woodwind”-ish I call it. J. Egan apparently wasn’t related to M. Egan, he was an early Dublin maker who I think also made harps.
4 drones, 1 reg?
Am I missing something, or is there something odd about the photographs ?
The end mount of the regulator in the original photo provided by Thies shows ivory with a tuning pin - now look at the second last photo provided by Joseph - brass, no tuning pin, where’s the ivory and pin gone?
Your experience is greater than mine here and so I’ll concede the point of view.
Am I missing something, or is there something odd about the photographs ?
The end mount of the regulator in the original photo provided by Thies shows ivory with a tuning pin - now look at the second last photo provided by Joseph - brass, no tuning pin, where’s the ivory and pin gone?
Could be that the closing lid with the pin was taken off for the other pictures. For whatever reason …
/TiE
All my „knowledge“ is due to collecting images. If it is due to reading it is just a matter of coincidence but nothing systematically.
By „sequel of the trims“ I mean this: The drones end with a trim but in a short distance there is another trim (and on this set up for auction – obviously a „luxury version“ – even a third one). They mean that the drones´ tailpieces were made of sections. Whoever fitted trims knows that this is some job and in this case they have to be especially snug as the drones´ straightness and stability are in question. Clearly, nobody today makes drones like this any more but I think that even for these sets with „half a base-drone“ they were pretty rare. I also think that there „is a certain similiarity in the outer shape of the trims“ (but I am pretty careful here on purpose). BTW, I found out meanwhile that J. stands for John, that there were several Egans (one family) and one of them also made harps.
Another hint might be the drones´ material: Black wood (obviously Ebony) whereas the vast majority of those sets are made from brown wood. Was it an issue to obtain Ebony (long enough) in those days? Of course we know today that materials were expensive and manpower cheap and therefore all products (whatever) of those days were richer decorated, but I think that the people also had a higher respect for decorations anyway and knew more about their aesthetic meaning. In books on woodturning you can read that even members of the nobility had lathes and turned objects for their leasure.
The chanter (and reg) are agreed upon to be non-original. The majority of these sets (of those days) had chanters without keys. Maybe the drones´ metal parts were plated to match the chanter?
Cheers,
Hans