Antique Louis Lot wooden French flute with metal head, serial number 4811

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Antique Louis Lot wooden French flute with metal head, serial number 4811 :
$2195.00

This is a reasonably well preserved Louis Lot flute from the golden era of French flute-making. The wooden corpus is numbered 4811 (with some room for doubt on the second figure, which also might read 0 or 6, but I read it as 8). The flute has a metal Louis Lot head numbered 7624. Leather-covered case is original, with some wear, to the left side panel in particular. No more room for pictures, but feel free to ask for pictures of specific details.Probably, the flute\'s wooden head has been changed for a metal one after two or three decades of the flute\'s life, the interior of the case shows some modification to fit the present head. Alternatively, it had a metal head already, which was replaced with the present one. Originally the flute has been made with open-hole keys, onto which silver discs have been soldered neatly to transform them into closed keys. But the open keys are still intact below them, as I have tried to illustrate in one of the pictures taken from below. So, it is still possible to bring the keys back to their original shape, if desired. The entire mechanism is full sterling silver, with quite a few minute hallmarks all over the mechanism (a boar\'s head for Paris, and a maker\'s mark). As seen in the pictures, the wood of the foot seems partly of a lighter shade than the main part of the corpus, but the lower side of the foot is of exactly the same color. All parts belong together for sure. The head is silver-plated, with a solid silver lipplate, as shown by the two hallmarks on it. I guess the riser will be silver as well. Complete, no rust on the blued-steel springs. Two old repairs: to a chip broken out from the end of the foot (done with shellac most probably), and a small crack from the E key to the edge of the tenon. There is an unrepaired minor crack in the barrel, due to shrinking of the wood over the full metal lining, which is untreated, and easy to repair. It has no effect on te sound as this part is fully metal-lined.The condition of the pads does not allow for establishing the exact pitch, the metal head is able to slide in the barrel. Sounding length with the head in as far as possible is 602 mm. The head allows for shortening some 3 mm, since it does not fully slide into barrel and corpus. Alternatively, the upper part of the corpus could be reamed a little further down to allow for the head to enter deeper. All in all: it may be a bit of a project, but restoration will no doubt be rewarding. Fitting a new, or other old, wooden head is also an interesting option, of course. Enjoy!You are welcome to come and have a look at home with me in Amsterdam.Any dealing with customs facilities, duties or taxes will be buyer\'s responsibility.Free shipping worldwide!