DCM 0453: Anonymous, English Flute in C

DCM ledger: "Possibly by J. Wood." Ivory, highly elaborately carved with oriental and floral design. The head joint tuning slide mechanism is unusual structurally speaking. Most of the upper section is not metal lined. The tuning slide male tube (silver) contains a brass threaded ferrule, which is held in place by corresponding threads in the ivory tube. The lower section or barrel of the head joint then contains threads cut into its upper end, which in turn takes a brass ferrule containing corresponding threads which then becomes the outer tube of the tuning slide assembly.
Instrument type: Flute in C
Medium: Ivory, silver cap, keys, and ferrules.; 66.85 cm.
Key Holes System: 8 keys, foot to C, typical 19c English style. Keys engraved all over, of unusual design. Described by DCM as follows: "flat flaps, hinged at one edge, closing down like a trap-door, raised by a lever engaging in a loop on the upper side." Six of the keys are mounted standard pin in block style. Two (long F and upper C) are mounted in bassoon-like metal saddles, which DCM felt may have been later additions. However, they could also be original for purposes of covering no more carved area than necessary. The metal key mounts are affixed not with a standard downward screw design, but apparently have a sort of integral silver keel-like element morticed into the ivory and held in place with a metal pin, looking very much like the crack-preventing pins commonly found on English clarinets of the period.
Mark Maximum: No mark.
Condition: Head joint, upper section, 2 small cracks.
Provenance: John T. Shiel, Walkden, near Manchester, England, 1 Jan. 1925.

The Dayton C. Miller collection in the Library of Congress, contains nearly 1,700 flutes and other wind instruments, statuary, iconography, books, music, trade catalogs, tutors, patents, and other materials mostly related to the flute. It includes both Western and non-Western examples of flutes from around the world, with at least 460 European and American instrument makers represented. Items in the collection date from the 16th to the 20th century.