No sooner did I buy a flute from forum member/maker TKing, (Thanks Travis! I really love how your flute feels and sounds) and now a local friend is offering a Goulding D’Almaine Potter&C Soho flute that was found in a long-dead aunt’s attic. It is a five-piece, four-key flute with ivory rings in what appears to be boxwood, with an emblem on the barrel that might be a flower, a clover or a fleur de lis, and the number 6 stamped above the emblem. As nearly as I can tell it’s from between 1811-1824. The pictures look pretty rough, but it may be playable.
Langwill’s says 1813-1824 under that mark (with the addition of a Potter family member), at the Soho Square address.
Google AI says: “In 1820, London flute pitch typically centered around A=430 Hz to A=442 Hz, with some flutes having a wider range, and the standard concert pitch of A=440 Hz was not yet established”
This is pretty much the same as I was able to ascertain, though I got my information from the VM site.
I am interested in what condition the flute is in. As yet, I have only seen a couple of pictures.
I’ve still only seen a couple of pictures, so there’s a lot to be learned when I see the flute. At first I thought there were four keys, but it looks as though there are at least six. (I can see some of the mounts, but not the keys themselves. Who knows what condition the keys are in? The pics don’t show the embouchure, so that is a mystery as well. There it a substantial split in the barrel right near the makers’ mark, so it likely won’t be playable without a fair amount of work.
It is a bit ironic that something like this pops up when I’m just learning the ropes noodling away with your flute.
I will post an update when I get a chance to try this instrument.