DCM 0117: Bacon & Hart English Double Flageolet

Instrument type: English Double Flageolet
Medium: Boxwood, moderately dark stain, ivory mouthpiece, ferrule, and finger studs, brass keys.; 46 cm.
Key Holes System: 7 keys, including 2 windway cutoff keys, flat square flap. Left pipe: 0/7 holes plus 2 keys; right pipe: 1(key)/5 plus 2 keys. Pin in block.
Mark Maximum: BACON & HART / PHILA. / (lyre)
Mark Additional: Mark on chamber and bottom of each pipe.
Condition: Mouthpiece broken off just above decorative turning. Upper section with sponge chamber missing chip of wood, stock has 3 cracks, one of which is quite large, full length, and previously professionally repaired with 4 iron cross pins. Left pipe upper key block cracked, partially missing and with key missing. 3 ivory finger studs missing. Right pipe, one ivory finger stud missing.
Provenance: Robert R. Tatnall, 11 Oct. 1919. Dr. Tatnall was a physicist and flutist. In the earliest correspondence with DCM, 9 Aug. 1909, Dr. Tatnall was with the Department of Physics at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, and he wrote to ask DCM's advice about purchasing a Haynes flute. He also visited Miller in Cleveland in 1909 to see his flute collection. In later correspondence in 1935 and 1936, Dr. Tatnall was associated with J. E. Rhoads & Sons, a leather company, in Wilmington, Delaware.

The Dayton C. Miller collection in the Library of Congress, contains nearly 1,700 flutes and other wind instruments, statuary, iconography, books, music, trade catalogs, tutors, patents, and other materials mostly related to the flute. It includes both Western and non-Western examples of flutes from around the world, with at least 460 European and American instrument makers represented. Items in the collection date from the 16th to the 20th century.