Don’t feel so bad for selling my boxwood Rudall as it seems more and more keep popping up. Just found this one on ebay.
Is that the hobgoblin one? Looks familiar.
It appears it’s the same flute. Didn’t know they dealt in flutes this nice.
Nice looking flute…
There’s an old thread about it somewhere (I can’t find it)…
Seems Hobgoblin in Man(ky)chester still have it listed - at £4.5k! Looks like the owner has got tired of waiting for it to sell on commission there and is having a go on eBay him/herself. (I don’t suspect a scam as the eBay vendor’s photo set is different and better than the single in-the-shop Hobgoblin one.)
Hobgoblin Manchester have several other high range antique flutes on offer currently too (flagged here by dunnp last April…) - at what we might call pre-crunch-market prices: - another cocus R&R with flat-round (so originally cork-padded) keys, a very nice looking Wylde and an equally impressive T Prowse Nicholson.
Looking at their all shops list, there are some other interesting items, including two more Wyldes and a Wallis. This one may be of especial interest to another esteemed C&F-er!
“21H1468 Siccama system wooden flute. W D Cubitt Son & Co stamped on all joints, No 661 £1200.00 in London”
Plenty of flutes about!
For what its worth, I have bought a flute from this vendor in the past, so I can confirm that he is a real person. He seems to have access to several very nice flutes. He was in contact with me recently to see if I was interested in a nice looking Wylde. Of course I was interested, but the price was too high for me. He also had a half dozen or so other high end flutes available and could send genuine looking pictures of all of them. I have no other connection with this person, nor really any idea who he actually is or what his business is.
Ah. I wonder if it is/was Conor Moloney? He lives “near Manchester Airport” (Cheadle would qualify) and is a known Rudall man… Nice player too - I’ve met him at sessions a few times.
I don’t think its Conor. The person I dealt with signed off “Farid” in his emails, but he may be helping someone else.
Is the embouchure hole lined with silver? Or what? How does that work out?
no, it is ivory lined. this practice probably started when the maker screwed up cutting the embouchure, so that is how new innovations are started! 
Technically, it made a sharped embouchure hole, as ivory is a harder surface…
this practice probably started when the maker screwed up cutting the embouchure, so that is how new innovations are started
actually, not at all right, though it is certainly a way to fix a screwed-up emb.
The practice of ivory inserts was one pressed by Nicholson himself (read Nicholson’s treatise as well as Rockstro’s retelling). He believed ivory maintained a sharp embouchure edge over time and was preferred to plain wood, which he believed either couldn’t maintain its sharpness or that simply couldn’t be refined to be sharp enough.
Either way…it was a Nicholson thing, though it’s quite possible someone before him came up with the concept, it was certainly Nicholson who espoused it enough to become popular.
and I’m very very surprised no one mentioned the extremely unique trait on this flute.
No, not the band at the barrel union (always a sign of a crack repair).
Look at the short-F key. There’s a roller on the right side of the touch. Clearly to accommodate the move from F-nat to D w/o having to lift the finger.
Very cool looking…and interesting. I’m wondering if it was added years later as I don’t believe there were many who were using rollers at the time of any kind on any keys. A Rudall in the 14xx series would be made (without the catalogue handy to refer, so I’ll guess) ~1828-30.
And what do you people think about these ivory inserts? I’ve played only two flutes with it (a Prowse and a Wilkes) and both were great great flutes.
Do these inserts function the same way as the amber or ivory inserts that Peter Noy (for example) uses? Do the the inserts change the sound or just protect the edge of the embouchure hole from damage (or maybe just look cool)?
Best wishes.
Steve
I’ve seen early flutes with an ivory inset in the embouchure as a modern repair, when the wood is beyond salvaging. Is there any way to know if the ivory on this is original, or when it was done? What does the shape of the embouchure hole on this one look like, to you folks who know the subtle differences in styles?
I’d venture that’s a tough one to figure out.
Though the presence of a head crack makes me wonder if the insert was made to rectify any offset that might have caused in the embouchure edge. Since doesn’t penetrate the embouchure, I doubt it…but you never know.