Ebblewhite 8-Key Flute

Sold as-is. This instrument requires restoration work before it will be playable: cleaning, oiling, polishing, repadding, rethreading, and sealing of cracks in the headjoint. The short F key is currently bent high. It is offered in its present unrestored state.

An eight-key flute in the classic London mid-Victorian tradition, believed to date from around 1860. The Library of Congress holds an Ebblewhite flute of the same period made of cocuswood with nickel silver lip plate, keys, ferrules, and fingerhole bushings. Keys on that instrument are saltspoon style with pewter plugs over round metal plates for the low C# and C, with pin-in-block mounting. These details are characteristic of Ebblewhite's output and give a useful reference point for what the type represents at its best.

About the Maker

J. H. Ebblewhite marked his instruments "J. H. Ebblewhite / Maker" with an address on High Street, Aldgate, London. The firm is recorded as active in London from 1854 to 1882. Baptismal records from St Botolph's Church, Aldgate, confirm the family's residence at 24 Aldgate High Street and describe the father as a musical instrument maker. Instruments bearing the Ebblewhite stamp have been found across multiple instrument types, marked as both maker and importer. Surviving examples include flutes, concertinas, and cornopeans, reflecting the breadth of a mid-Victorian London trade shop.