DCM 0150: Anonymous, North American Indian (Cheyenne) Courting Flute (Vertical Whistle Flute)

DCM ledger: "Cheyenne." The flue cover is also glued into position and the lead flue plate is tied separately into position further down the tube to form the edge. Incised, carved designs include stag's head, bison(?) head, tortoise, bird, two centipedes, snake, sun and moon, leaf and branch. The lashings terminate in long decorative strands, those at the end incorporate feathers. Possibly original or not, the bottom end has a brazed-seam, wide nickel silver ferrule, and the mouthpipe has a brazed-seam narrow silver ferrule.
Instrument type: Courting Flute (Vertical Whistle Flute)
Medium: Wood, nickel silver ferrules, lead flue plate, leather thong, feathers.; 61.7 cm.
Key Holes System: 0/6 holes.
Mark Maximum: No mark.
Provenance: Harvey's Curio Store, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 16 Sept. 1920.

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.