Rudall Carte Cocuswood Boehm, C with Case

A low pitch model, which means it comes up to A=440 with the head joint pushed all the way in. Sounding length is 603mm.

Cocuswood throughout, with plateau keywork, a C foot, and a metal tuning slide behind a thread-wrapped tenon. It comes in what appears to be its original case, black leather over wood with green plush lining and the fittings still intact.

The barrel is stamped with a crown above RUDALL,CARTE and Co / 23 BERNERS STREET / OXFORD STREET / LONDON, with the number 3237 beneath. The firm occupied 23 Berners Street from 1878 and added "Ltd" to its name in 1911, so the stamp as it reads here places the flute between those two dates. Rudall Carte kept its numbers in separate series by model, and no published table covers the flutes, so the number alone will not date it more closely than that. The workshop ledgers survive at the Horniman Museum for anyone who wants to chase it further.

This one is a restoration project. The head joint carries two hairline cracks through the embouchure and a third running from the crown, and a full overhaul is needed on top of that work. It is offered as is, priced to leave room for the work.