Tell us something.: I restore 19th century flutes, specializing in Rudall & Rose, and early American flutes. I occasionally make new flutes. Been at it for about 15 years.
I agree that the key work on the Monzani in the Dayton Miller collection looks a lot like the Hall keywork. There is precedent for New York firms importing London flutes. Someone recently had up for sale an apparent Clementi (with the characteristic scolloped headjoint) that was stamped by one of the New York firms (memory fails me where I saw this). There was certainly communication between London and New York back then.
Retraction! The keywork is really not very similar. I did blowups to examine side by side of the photos from the eBay Hall listing and the Dayton Miller Monzani listing. There are actually some easily spotted differences in style of the key work:
1. Touchs for the "Siccama" keys: Concave on the Hall and flat on the Monzani.
2. The tops of the pad cups for the "Siccama" keys: Convex on the Hall and flat on the Monzani.
3. G# and D# keys: On the Hall curve gracefully from touch across the mount to the cup attachment, but on the Monzani there is a notch or drop-off between the touch and the mount.
4. Top ends of the G# and D# touchs: Curved smoothly on the Hall,but "pointy" on the Monzani.
These are just the first four difference I spotted; there are likely to be many more. So I guess we conclude this was not an import from Monzani, at least.
Mystery continues.
You are right, so maybe Hall made the flute? Who knows... Should be a fun project!
If you want to try and fix the ivory there is a good flute repairer, Jerry Schurr who can fix the ivory, (he uses dental repair) and also works on post mount keys. http://fluterepair.oldmusicproject.com
"I love the flute because it's the one instrument in the world where you can feel your own breath. I can feel my breath with my fingers. It's as if I'm speaking from my soul..."
Michael Flatley
There's another nice illustration of a L hand crutch mounting from an item currently on eBay. I couldn't trans-post this pic either, but there are a couple of relevant shots on the well illustrated listing.
I respect people's privilege to hold their beliefs, whatever those may be (within reason), but respect the beliefs themselves? You gotta be kidding!
Terry McGee has pointed out that his page on "other" Siccama flutes shows a flute in the Siccama style that was "branded" Pond - i.e., sold in New York at about the same time as the Hall. The keywork looks almost identical to the Hall's!
You are right, so maybe Hall made the flute? Who knows... Should be a fun project!
If you want to try and fix the ivory there is a good flute repairer, Jerry Schurr who can fix the ivory, (he uses dental repair) and also works on post mount keys. http://fluterepair.oldmusicproject.com
Thanks for the tip, Jon. I can probably handle the key refurbishing, unless something is fractured, but fixing the ivory is another thing. Might be a really tough job to get the embouchure chimney just right. From the looks of the headjoint in the photo, couldn't be much worse. As Terry 'said' to me, "it looks as if it has reached its use-by date."
Tell us something.: I restore 19th century flutes, specializing in Rudall & Rose, and early American flutes. I occasionally make new flutes. Been at it for about 15 years.
Lar wrote:Terry McGee has pointed out that his page on "other" Siccama flutes shows a flute in the Siccama style that was "branded" Pond - i.e., sold in New York at about the same time as the Hall. The keywork looks almost identical to the Hall's!
I'd tentatively conclude that the keywork, if not the flutes themselves, were by the same maker, presumably in New York. (-or London, who knows?)
When the Hall arrives, I'll examine the keys for marks that could potentially be compared with any that might be on the Pond.
Well sounds like you have some closure...
"I love the flute because it's the one instrument in the world where you can feel your own breath. I can feel my breath with my fingers. It's as if I'm speaking from my soul..."
Michael Flatley
