Presentation flute – Anonymous

This delightful flute was a gift to a school friend in 1842 – William Guppy. It is a three-part flute, made of maple and fitted with one brass key. The form of the instrument suggests that it might be American, as does the style of the date and the wording...

Ocarina with double tuning slide – CANELLA, Antonio

This terracotta and brass ocarina was made in Ferrara, Italy by Antonio CANELLA (1861?-1952?). To date, we have never seen another ocarina with a double tuning slide like this one! It almost looks like a gun in the hand of Bond… James Bond. Antonio Canella was active making ocarinas from around...

Bass ocarina – DONATI, Guiseppe

This ocarina was made by the great master and inventor of the ocarina himself Giuseppe DONATI (1836-1925). Donati lived and worked in his hometown of Budrio at the outset of his career as an ocarina maker. He moved to Bologna in 1878 where he lived and worked. In 1904 he opened...

Conical ring-key flute – BERTHOLD, Johann Heinrich

This grenadilla conical ring-key flute features a nickel silver mechanism that is silver-plated. It was entirely overhauled and is now in wonderful playing condition. It has new pads, felts and corks.  It also has a beautiful case covered in real leather, plus two new wooden tenon protectors. This conical ring-key flute...

Oboe – Wilhelm HECKEL

The Heckel woodwind instrument making workshop is one of the oldest to survive today. It was founded by Johann Adam HECKEL (1812-1877) who was born in Adorf but moved to Biebrich near Wiesbaden. He was extremely successful making all sorts of instruments, including bassoons, contrabassoons, clarinets, clarinas, flutes, oboes, basset...

KASRIEL guide-chant – singing guide

This is a rare guide-chant or singing guide made by the company KASRIEL in working condition!  This particular guide-chant is featured in the 1927 Kasriel catalogue as model 53. Aimed at schools, it has metal reeds and a keyboard of two octaves with resin keys. The surround is made of polished...

Piccolo – JACK LEFF

This vintage JACK LEFF piccolo not only sounds fantastic but also looks stunning! This grenadilla piccolo was entirely handmade by the legendary Jacques LEFÈVRE (1930-2020). Jacques Lefèvre apprenticed under his father, Martial Lefèvre (1883-1957) and worked for SML for some time before leaving in the 1960s to set his own business...

Flute – POTTER, William Henry

This eight-keyed flute, crafted in boxwood with silver keys features patented pewter plugs and a metal-lined head joint with tuning slide. The rings and screw cork are made of ivory. It has the markings 4, 5, 6 on the barrel and there are also markings on the ivory stopper indicator. It...

Early Romantic flute – KOCH, Stephan

This splendid early Romantic flute was made by the crème de la crème of Viennese master woodwind makers Stephan KOCH (1772-1828). We think this instrument was made around 1820 while Stephan was still alive before his son Franz took over the workshop. Take a moment to listen to it yourself, playing...