DCM 0391: Firth Pond & Co. Flute in C

Instrument type: Flute in C
Medium: Rosewood(?), nickel silver keys and ferrules.; 61.6 cm.
Key Holes System: 4 keys, flat round flaps. DCM indicated F key to be missing, its block being broken off and missing at the pin line. Stapled to the block is a nickel silver key, possibly short F, very similar in design.
Mark Maximum: FIRTH POND & CO / 347 BROADWAY / N-YORK // GERMAN SILVER
Mark Additional: Mark on upper body. Mark on head, lower, foot: FIRTH POND & CO / N-YORK
Condition: Upper body joint, upper tenon, cracked into numerous pieces and repaired by binding the surviving pieces with dental floss over a nickel silver tube about 8 mm. in length. One of the tenon cracks continues for most of the length of the joint. The lower tenon of this joint has a similar crack(s) problem which has been addressed in the same manner, minus the metal tube. Upper middle joint, metal-lined, cracked. Lower body joint cracked at socket.
Provenance: Anonymous, Rochester, New York, 1923.

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.