My long absence from these forums is due to the fact that I haven't acctually played a flute for several years, but as some of you might remember, I'm the owner of one of the few 19th century original left handed flutes in existence, more specifically the New York-made Firth & Pond mentioned here: http://www.mcgee-flutes.com/LH-flutes.htm
The flute was made some time between 1847 and 1863, most likely by special order for some wealthy left handed New Yorker. It's 8-keyed, cocus wood and sterling silver. Some time during the latter half of the 20th century it ended up in the collection of the late Andrew Kirby. After Andrews passing it was picked up by Hammy Hamilton who restored it and then sold it to me. It goes without saying that this flute is the only one of its kind in the world. Antique lefty flutes are extremely rare since left handedness was viewed as an anomality and even illegal in several countries during the 19th century. There are just a handful of known examples of lefty antiques in existance, and this is the only one from this maker. It plays amazing with good volume, crisp response and nice tone. It's a rather small holed flute so you expect it to be easy to fill and very responsive which it is, but also on the quiet side which it is not. This flute can be played pretty much as loudly as any other flute, and it's also capable of producing the sort of dark, barky tone normally associated with Prattens and large hole Rudalls. I might be able to dig out a few sound clips of the flute being played by me, but truth be told I've never been a good enough player to be able to display the capability of this flute. In the hands of a skilled player, this flute is as good as anything out there, new or used. If you click on from the link to Terry McGee's website I posted above you'll find links to other pages on his website where the rather similar but right handed, 6-keyed flute played and owned by Grey Larsen is analyzed. Grey's flute, which in turn is the model for McGee's Grey Larsen's Prefered flute, is from the same time period and probably has a similar profile.
I'm not committing to anything yet, but I'm starting to feel a bit guilty about keeping this piece of history since I don't play it anymore, so this post is to gauge if there's any interest in this flute from the trad. flute community at this time. E-mail or PM me if you are interested in buying this flute and we can discuss it. If the right buyer is found, I will let this flute go, albeit reluctantly. I'm not looking for a trade and I won't sell it for less than it's worth. I can ship the flute to anywhere in the world.
