This beautiful late-Romantic oboe was made by Ferdinand Julius Hermann ALTRICHER (1842-1915) who was native to Frankfurt an der Oder. This city is in today’s German state of Brandenburg. He started out around 1868 as a mouth-organ or harmonica manufacturer before he turned his hand to brass and woodwind instrument making.

His skills were rewarded and he would become Court maker to Prince Friedrich Carl of Prussia. He opened a branch in Berlin and after expansion his workshop employed up to 55 people at one stage. On his death, his wife Margarete and son Erich Altrichter continued the business until it was dissolved. Erich’s own sons decided against working in the musical instrument making business.

This oboe looks wonderful with its flamed or figured boxwood. The keys and rings are made of nickel silver. The oboe is supplied in a case, which is obviously not original and made much later.In terms of condition, all the keys and rings are present. There is a glued and pinned crack in the right-hand joint and the top of the bell too. There is also some chipping to the wood of the bell at the base near the rim.