John PRESTON (1727–1798) was a highly successful London musical instrument maker and publisher who initially built his reputation on violins and English guitars, famously inventing a watch-key tuning mechanism. He steadily expanded his Strand business into a major workshop and music warehouse. Alongside stringed instruments and square pianos, Preston was...
A truly remarkable find, crafted from stunning, wonderfully grained cocuswood, this four-piece Hérouard Père flute features five nickel-silver keys and nickel silver rings. It plays at a=442 Hz with the head joint fully inserted, while its built-in tuning slide offers the flexibility to play at a slightly lower pitch. This...
This splendid Boehm-system flute was made by Luigi BILLORO (1870/1-1942). Luigo Billoro was born in Monselice in Italy. He was a flute virtuoso and teacher, not to mention a clever businessman. Yet Luigi Billoro spent very little time in Italy! He travelled to South America as a young man, where it...
We are absolutely thrilled that one of our valued customers has shared not only photos but also a recording of the Georg GRAESSEL, alias Gräßel or Grässel (1874-1948) reform-style flute….now restored! Georg Graessel was born in Regnitzlosau in Bavaria, Germany in 1874, right near the border with the Czech Republic. The...
This solid silver Louis Lot flute was made right at the beginning of the Émile BARAT (1846-1918) ownership. Barat was born in Joigny, France in 1846. He ran a music shop in Paris from 1874 until 1889. He took over the Lot company in 1889 and flute production was...
This four-piece METZLER boxwood flute has a beautiful stain and yes… you’re right really distinctive and unusual brass rings. With its generous embouchure and fingerholes, it plays beautifully and delivers a wonderfully colourful sound. We think it was made around 1800 by Valentine METZLER (c.1756-1832), not his son of course, as...
This remarkable and rare flute was created by George Leonhard LINTNER (1794-1859), who received training and licensing as a maker of both brass and woodwind instruments – quite unusual for the time. He worked alongside his father, Johann Georg LINTNER, who came from Tyrnau in Slovakia, in their hometown of...
This early Romantic flute was made by the meister woodwind instrument maker, teacher, composer and inventor Johann Heinrich Gottlieb STREITWOLF (1779-1837). He was admired by many… including Johann August Günther HEINROTH (1780–1846), music director in Göttingen who wrote an article about him which was published in the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung...
We’re back to the wonderful city of Strasbourg with its famous woodwind instrument makers of long ago. It’s a very intertwined history indeed! This early nineteenth-century boxwood flute has ivory rings and four German/nickel silver keys. It is stamped on all four joints with an angel bearing a trumpet and DOBNER...
This cocuswood marching or band flute was made by the company Henry Potter & Co. Henry Potter & Co was started back in 1810 by Regimental Drum Major Samuel POTTER (1772-1836). He named the company after his son Henry Potter (1810-1876) and it still exists today.The company moved premises around...
