it’s a french flute i’ve got frm ebay and restored it, the markings are:
C & M. JANIN
A St ÉTIENNE
and i can post pictures if you want and/or if you tell me how to post them 
get a web host and up-load them there. When you have up loaded them, right click and get the URL from proprieties (or whatever it’s called in the american version). Post the URL between with no spaces what so ever.
Have I made myself clear mate!!?
with a pikey accent
Doesn’t seem to be listed, Bullfighter. Any doubt about the spelling?
Terry
first try:
Looks to be Cocus.
it works
the spelling at the markings is very clear…
its appearance is very close to any thibouville 5 key model.. could be a copy, but i don’t know…
the foot is not orignal.
after the restoration it sounds great, precise and medium-loud..
wow 
It’s been a long time since i created this thread! almost 4 years!
I’m refloating the thread because during this years, this flute has been still an enigma. I couldn’t find any info on the maker.
It has been my main flute for playing at home and in some recordings.
Some of you (Doug) know i have a friend whois a young film composer, and he is growing into bigger projects, and he likes to record solo intruments or percussion to mix with computer generated orchestra, to add life to the music. he really loves the classy sound of this flute’s second octave. (a bit OT)
BUT, if you have any ideas of where to look or search about antique french makers, would be GREATLY apreciated!
Some people here have copies of The new Langwill index, a fairly pricey book. If your man isn’t in there he’s lost to history.
I have two very nice French flutes, an anon and a Martin Frères. Curiously a few miles from my house there’s a Beau Frères winery. Here’s a picture of another Martin Frères 8 key, pretty much exactly like mine, including the reddish cocus wood:
It’s the flute on top, of course. From 19th century French simple system flutes.
Does your flute have metal lined sockets? My MF flute was like that, a previous owner had pinned the wood to hold it together but it was nevertheless cracked very badly - not a good idea structurally.
yes!
It has metal lined sockets and ringed tenons (as my camille thibouville, which is also made in cocus) very french way to do the joints.
… doesn’t Freres mean “brothers” ?
Yes. It does.
Are the sockets on yours made out of copper? Mine is, which made for a pretty toxic coat of verdigris. Cleaned up properly and with various repairs it’s an outstanding flute though. Couldn’t be easier to play, and the 3rd octave speaks very readily, and has a rich, very noisy or woody sound. It’s the opposite end of the spectrum from the Hawkes and Son I just acquired.
Copper?! I’d be surprised indeed if they were pure copper - too soft, and I’ve never seen any such. The usual maillechort/German Silver does of course contain copper (it’s a brass-related cupro-nickel alloy) and will produce cupric corrosion products, hence the verdigris, quantity depending on length of neglect and also local electrolytic conditions - in a greased joint where the thread gets/got wet with water and/or(possibly water-containing) oil at intervals, you can get quite a bit, and the green stain migrates through and colours the other gunk there - so it isn’t all actual corrosion, but coloured grease/oil residue.
Toxic? Well, maybe if you directly ingested it, but I believe copper is a pretty good antiseptic and fungicide, so in some senses it may be preventing the growth of mould etc. And I don’t think touching it is especially risky - through-skin absorption is probably rather limited and would need to be prolonged and extensive to be a health risk, though basic hygiene precautions make sense. I wouldn’t worry about it too much just cleaning up one flute.
It’s silver plated copper, surprising since the keys and rings (which the sockets fit into) are solid nickel silver. Much of the plating is worn off of course. I can take a pic if you don’t believe me. It’s perhaps marginally less red than the copper sheet I make uilleann pipe staples out of.
The…skudge was a nasty blue green color. Nothing I’d want to taste, ingest, breath moist air around. The whole flute needed a makeover, it’s quite a nice stick. I think it was Rockstro who praised the French for the quality of their keywork. No blockmounts, or as he termed them, “unsightly knobs.”
My pipes have nickel silver metal work and I’m always building up…skudge on the regulator keys, which you strike with the “wrist” (actually palm of the hand but pipers call it the wrist, it’s traditional) while playing the chanter. My pipemaker/flute mechanic is always chewing me out about how tarnished I let the pipes get. A friend of ours eats a lot of curry and the corrosion on his brass regulator keys is this beautiful rust patina, pretty cool.