Antique 4-Key Flageolet

This antique flageolet is complete but requires a full restoration before it can be played. The instrument has two cracks that will need attention: a crack in the barrel section and a hairline crack running along the top of the body from the socket down toward the first tone hole. The keys need to be re-padded, and the whole instrument would benefit from a thorough cleaning, polishing, and oiling. There is also a small chip in the section just below the barrel that houses the fipple blade; the blade itself is undamaged and the chip is purely cosmetic, with no impact on playability. The instrument measures approximately 15.5" in total length, the sounding length is 252mm. The maker is not identified, and no case or accessories are included. This instrument was donated to St. Francis Thrift Store in support of their animal rescue mission, and we are assisting with the sale on their behalf.

The four keys are arranged for Eb, F, G#, and Bb. For an English flageolet, four keys represent a practical and complete configuration, allowing the player to sound Eb, F, G#, and Bb without resorting to cross-fingering, to the general benefit of intonation and speed. Once restored, the instrument would be fully chromatic.

Most English flageolets were pitched in D, and the dimensions here are consistent with that. The English flageolet was a late 18th-century adaptation of the French form, with six front finger holes and, sometimes, keywork. The English single flageolet arose at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries and continued to be made in differing forms until the early 20th century; initially of alto recorder size, it later settled into a soprano-sized form that remained standard until its decline. English flageolets were often more modestly constructed than French flageolets of the mid-19th century; while some were made from boxwood or African blackwood, many others used cheaper and softer woods.

For someone with restoration experience, the prognosis here is genuinely encouraging. The instrument is complete, the keys are all present, and the damage, while real, is the kind that skilled hands can address. Properly restored, it would make a historically interesting and fully playable piece.