Flute, C
Date1785-1825 ca.
Place MadeEngland, Europe
Serial No.none
SignedOn all joints: POTTER / LONDONMarkingsOn tuning slide barrel, ivory ring of head joint, and on foot below signature: PATENT
DescriptionA fake Potter flute made by an unscrupulous English maker seeking to capitalize on the success of Richard Potter's flute workshop. Boxwood body in five sections, with tuning slide in the head joint. Six silver or silver-plated keys mounted on turned blocks and turned ring. The key heads are pewter plugs that close over metal-bushed tone holes. Ivory ferrules. Ivory headcap with graduated screw cork adjuster. This instrument lacks certain features characteristic of genuine Richard Potter flutes, such as his P-shaped springs, his wide tone hole undercutting, the numbering on the tuning slide and cork adjuster, and his Fleet Street address in the signature.
DimensionsOverall length: 670 mm
Embouchure: 9.8 mm x 9.4 mm
Sounding length: 590.1 mm
ProvenanceArne B. Larson Collection, Vermillion, South Dakota, 1979.
Published ReferencesKreitzer, Amy Shaw, Transverse Flutes by London Makers, 1750-1900, M.M. Thesis (University of South Dakota: 1993), pp. 207-208.
Credit LineArne B. Larson Collection, 1979
Object number02359
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