This third flute was made by the Bavarian maker Johann Samuel STENGEL (1771-1826). Johann Samuel was the first in a generation of woodwind instrument makers in the business for around 100 years in total. Johann Samuel was born in 1771 in Döhlau/Hof (about 60 kms from Bayreuth) and was a...
Wow! What we have here is an ivory flute made around 1740, perhaps in England. The flute is beautifully made and features a solid-silver key. The profiles are very finely and masterfully turned and demonstrate superior craftmanship. The embouchure is small and round and in perfect, original condition. The key...
Here is an exciting little instrument for flute collectors and enthusiasts everywhere. It is a double-wall piccolo… made in Italy. So, what do we mean by double wall?Double-wall metal wind instruments featured a hollow body with two tubes. This innovation was first patented in 1879 in Italy by Agostino RAMPONE...
Here is an exciting instrument for flute collectors and enthusiasts everywhere. It is a double-wall silver flute made by the maestro Agostino RAMPONE (1843-1897) in Italy.Double-wall metal wind instruments featured a hollow body with two tubes. This innovation was first patented in 1879 in Italy by Agostino Rampone who submitted...
No collectables website would be complete without a Rudall Carte & Co. flute. This exquisite, solid silver alto flute is a beauty to behold and was made by England’s finest flute-makers of the mid-twentieth century. The company was established in 1872 as successors to Rudall Rose, Carte & Co and...
Here is a five-keyed flute by LEONHARDT. Some initial research has led us to a flute made by the same maker at the Michaelstein Abbey collection in Germany. A boxwood clarinet by Leonhardt with the same stamp was also recently sold at auction in the UK.This instrument is crafted in...
This is a fabulous ten-keyed flute made in Vienna in 1851 at the workshop of the family of Stephan KOCH (1772-1828). Stephan Koch made all kinds of woodwind instruments, including bassoons, csakans and clarinets in his workshop in Vienna. However, he is most known for his improvements to the design...
This is a nice and typical example of a Cocuswood flute made by the famous Italian-born, turned Englishman, Tebaldo MONZANI (1762-1839). It is a three-piece construction. Two head joints are supplied, rather than just one head joint with a tuning slide. [Tuning slides often cause cracking in the wood.] There...
This reform flute was made by Carl KRUSPE Junior (1865-1929) when he was active in Leipzig, Germany, between 1893 and 1929. He was the eldest son of Friedrich Wilhelm KRUSPE (1838-1911) and successor of the Kruspe company, founded by his grandfather Carl KRUSPE Senior (1808-1885) in Erfurt. The flute was...
This sensational conical ring-key flute was fully restored by master woodwind instrument makers. The instrument is crafted in gorgeous Cocuswood with nickel/German silver ring keys and rings. It plays at a pitch of a=440Hz. Furthermore, it was supplied in a brand-new, leather-covered wooden case which was designed especially for this...
Cocuswood is the very dense hardwood of a Caribbean flowering tree called the ‘Brya ebenus’.
‘Brya ebenus’ belongs to the pea family ‘Fabaceae’ and is native to the Caribbean islands of Jamaica and Cuba. It also goes by the quite romantic name of Jamaica Rain Tree because it blossoms bright yellow-orange flowers right after it rains.
Cocuswood’s lovely medium to dark reddish-brown colour is further enhanced with dark blackish streaks. With time, its colour darkens. The grain of cocuswood tends to be straight or a bit wavy. It has a wonderful natural lustre and a fine, even texture.
So absolutely nothing to do with coconuts or coconut trees at all! Really!
With its amazing density, hardness and colour, it’s no wonder that this wood was considered to be one of the very best tonewoods and was widely used in the manufacture of woodwind instruments in the 1800s. It was an exotic, tropical alternative to woods such as boxwood, which were widely used at the time. Flutes, oboes and bagpipes were crafted in cocuswood as well as other items such as carvings or inlays.
Back then cocuswood was all the rage and sadly, due to this previous over-exploitation and the small size of its natural habitat, this wonderful natural resource has been commercially exhausted. So, it is not a protected species, but extremely expensive and difficult to source – making it a very special wood indeed.
Roughly serial numbers 1-102 c. 1810, 103-500 c.1811, 501-1000 c. 1814, 1001-1500 c. 1817, 1501-2000 c. 1821
