Photo of DCM 0400: Scherer Flute in C - Public domain dedication

With 2 corps de rechange although it may have had more. The head joint is unique in that the socket is a separate threaded part, the tenon for it being on the main body part. The head joint cap, if original, is also unique in that judging from the embouchure hole placed so near the end (3.8 cm. from approximately the center of the hole) there is room only for a cork without threaded tuning mechanism. However, the cap has been drilled through its center to receive what may have been a decorative shaft common to such tuning mechanisms. Within that hole, there is what would appear to be the dome-shaped end of such a shaft, now serving only as a decorative item. The present dimensions and total parts of this instrument seem original or convincing as those used during the working period of this instrument in that its case retains the instrument exactly as is.
Instrument type: Flute in C
Medium: Ivory, silver key.; 59 cm.; 60.8 cm.
Key Holes System: 1 key, square/trapezoid flap, pin in block.
Mark Maximum: X (scratched in) / SCHERER / (fleur-de-lis)
Mark Additional: Mark on all sections. Over the mark proper, on each joint, there is crudely scratched an X sign placed off center to the viewer's right.
Condition: Perfect condition.
Case: The case is 2 gouged slabs of wood (pine?) lined with dark red velvet and covered on the exterior with green tooled vellum or other thin leather. If not original, this period case at least indicated that the instrument was used as it now appears.
Provenance: D. A. McDonald, Chicago, 13 Mar. 1924.

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.