Pastoral pipes in auction house

[JR]

Found these in an auction house catalogue in Bath.

http://gardinerhoulgate.co.uk/Catalogue ... t0024.html

18th century, all ivory pastoral pipes. Regulator keywork is pretty spectacular.

Would love a play on them but theres a fairly hefty estimate on the set.

[DjUntzUntz]

Amazing. And to think somebody probably had that lying around in his basement or something.

[An Draighean]

Would love a play on them but theres a fairly hefty estimate on the set.

10,000-15,000 quid + VAT. Not ridiculous, depending on who made it and if it played really nicely.

[tompipes]

It's a very unique instrument indeed.
Well preserved too.
The key work looks familiar though. Looks like work from an early English or French flute maker.
Florio? Can't think of a pipes maker from that era that would do such work.
Maybe Dublin Egan or McGregor? Scott?

[tompipes]

I just thought of another culprit.
Hugh Robertson. He was a predecessor of Robert Reid.
In the late 80's or maybe later there was an article on him in An Piobaire.
He made some fancy Pastoral pipes and early Northumbrian pipes.

Just a guess though.

Tommy

[tompipes]

I just thought of another culprit.
Hugh Robertson. He was a predecessor of Robert Reid.
In the late 80's or maybe later there was an article on him in An Piobaire.
He made some fancy Pastoral pipes and early Northumbrian pipes.

Just a guess though.

Tommy

[andymay]

10,000-15,000 quid + VAT. Not ridiculous, depending on who made it and if it played really nicely.[/quote]

It probably just needs the bore and fingerholes opening out a bit to fetch it up to pitch?

(joking...)

[pancelticpiper]

Some 18th/early 19th century Pastoral pipe makers were

J Massie, Aberdeen
James Sharp, Aberdeen
John Davidson, Aberdeen
Adam Barclay
John Naughton, Aberdeen
Hugh Roberston, Edinburgh

Some Union Pipe makers who may also have made Pastoral Pipes

Malcolm MacGregor, London
John Dunn, Michael Dunn, Newcastle
Robert Reid, James Reid, North Shields
Bannon
Robert Scott, London
Weldon
Nicholas Kerr, Edinburgh
Donald MacDonald, Edinburgh

[Chris Bayley]

There are two Pastoral sets in the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford. One is shown in Baines but unfortunately he does not show the one in Ivory which chased silver keys very much this set, maybe its twin. In common with a lot of Pastoral pipes there was no makers name

[Ted]

There is an all ivory set with similar key-work in So. Calif. It is near Eb in pitch.

[PJ]

Unusual how the ivory of the chanter, drones and regulators is a different colour compared with the ivory of the mounts and caps.

Would the dark metal on the chanter top and mainstock be unpolished sterling silver?

[Mr.Gumby]

I his description of Lord Edward Fitzgerald's pipes(in Ceol, 1983) Seán Donnelly wrote that the ivory chanter of that set sounded 'shrill and unpleassant' as opposed to the wooden chanter with the same set.

Anyone with experience of ivory chanters who can say if that's a common feature of those chanters?

[geoff wooff]

It does look as if the set has had some repairs performed on it relatively recently. The End Cap of the Regulator looks very white and the Bag looks to be recent and tied in with the type of synthetic/waxed thread that is sold by NPU and sail makers (ships chandlers) suppliers.

The dark metal would be Silver, a normal material for the job at that period, and not really that unusual today.

I made a solid Ivory set of Northumbrian pipes many years ago and the chanter sound was noticably harder (and louder) than wooden ones. It is generally true to say that the denser the material the harder the tone will be.

[Kevin L. Rietmann]

The one time I met Tom Standeven he had Paddy Fitzpatrick's 4 regulator Taylor set and an ivory Taylor chanter, with flute keys added to the front to cover the toneholes - Wally Charm wrote about that in the Pipers' Review. Tom told me he didn't care for the tone of the ivory chanter - harsher than usual. He had a pipe cleaner or two in the bore as I recall. That set had all-metal G and D bass regulators and I remember them being surprisingly peaceful, too. John Pedersen had another Taylor set with metal D bass and his was reportedly loud enough to ward off ships, but then as we all know John just doesn't know what the (bleep) he's doing, am I right John?

Geoff - I remember seeing the picture of you with an ivory set of Northumbrian or Scottish smallpipes in that book "Australian Made - Australian Played." Showing off your goods there. No pictures of the Harrington in that book I think? Or the super-fancy set you sold to Mark Walstrom, or Ted's pipes, to cite two very flash pieces of work you did back then. I remember leafing through that book about 16 years ago, finding a copy at Powell's Books, which is one of the world's biggest booksellers.

[geoff wooff]

Geoff - I remember seeing the picture of you with an ivory set of Northumbrian or Scottish smallpipes in that book "Australian Made - Australian Played." Showing off your goods there. No pictures of the Harrington in that book I think? Or the super-fancy set you sold to Mark Walstrom, or Ted's pipes, to cite two very flash pieces of work you did back then. I remember leafing through that book about 16 years ago, finding a copy at Powell's Books, which is one of the world's biggest booksellers.

Don't know if I remember that book Kevin.... perhaps I have it in my Library... but I think not.. however the Ivory NSP was in an exhibition to comemorate 200 years of European settlement of Australia (or perhaps it was the opening of the new concert hall in Melbourne) in 1988... Mark Walstrom's set was also exhibited along with Baroque flute and Oboe... and I do have a copy of the catalogue for that event.