Not bothered about the piccolos, but would love to have the chance to try the flute.
http://cgi.ebay.com/German-Wood-Simple-System-Flute-2-Piccolos-/200511183727?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0
Maybe a good buy for someone here on the forum?
Wow! I’m surprised no one bid on that.
As I know nothing about keyed flutes, what made this an uninteresting proposition?
Too many keys or was it suspect somehow?
Too high a starting price for what are all too likely to be flutes at lower than modern pitch - probably A=432-5 - the LP stamp from makers like Kohlert at that era could mean that, or possibly c A=440, but the only way to tell for sure is to play them. I have a very nicely made similar Kohlert flute here (may have been one of those i showed you last year) that is real LP - no use! Seemingly no-one bothered to ask the vendor for more info to try to check his assertions, but although he has clearly done some research, I don’t get the impression he really understands the whole business of different pitches and the key-naming thing - seems to have them muddled up!
I asked for clarification.
He’s a boehm flute player, jazz flute actually. He’s not muddled at all, just using the terms from the classical world.
Anyway, the piccolos would likely be high pitch, from what I understood. All holes covered he was getting D# / Eb. I was only interested in those, though!
Alas, 'tis a complicated world, this keyed flute business! 
This is why I can’t believe people part with hard cash for instruments they’ve not even played yet.
Jem - I do believe you did show me a very similar flute last year. My initial thoughts were, “Damn! This thing has too many keys on it!” Hahaha!
But, hopefully without sounding like too much of a rube, that eBay flute sure does look purty, don’t it!
I think that Jem is right that the seller does not understand the difference between the key-naming conventions for simple-system and Boehm-style flutes. He doesn’t understand why the flute should be marked a D when in his mind it is clearly a C flute. He did say that in a comparison test that the flute marked as a “D” simple-system flute did match his modern Boehm silver flute. If that is true, then the D flute should play A=440 hertz. I think that the seller would be wise to split this auction and start each at a lower price. Jem, what should I bid for the keyed D flute?
Well, if it does play at 440 for sure and it has been well overhauled and properly set up and has no issues, it is the kind of thing I’d sell for about £350-400 (GBP), probably. Maybe a little more as Kohlert is a good quality name and the intonation should be good (with suitable vented fingerings). The sounding length given does seem within the right area for a B foot at 440, though I’d check on the C#-Eb length too and try it if at all possible. I rather doubt it could command or would be worth more than about £500 in the current market, though. However, if it proves to be a really good player as may well be, qualitatively it perhaps should be worth rather more (my Rampone being a comparable case). Certainly the un-overhauled but playable A=435 one I have shows every promise of being an excellent flute - it just isn’t worth my time & effort to work on before ones that will play at 440.
The piccolos, if HP (or concert Eb) as seems likely, are worth very little, especially the platter-keyed one, however good quality originally, nicely reconditioned and good players they may be. Maybe £40-50 each tops.