Musical Instruments - DCM 0525: Anonymous Mystery Tube

DCM purchased this object from his major source of Native American instruments, however, this may not be an instrument at all. DCM ledger: "Flute? Thin-walled bamboo, closed at top and bottom by natural septum. Decorated all over with burned designs: square areas, with diagonal lines. One small hole from upper edge, perhaps for nose-blowing. No fingerholes! There are thirteen small holes burned through the septum of lower end, to permit sound."
Instrument type: Mystery Tube
Medium: Bamboo.; 62.9 cm.
Key Holes System: No fingerholes. Nose hole(?). 13 holes burned through lower end.
Mark Maximum: No mark.
Condition: Several cracks.
Provenance: N. E. Carter, Elkhorn, Wisconsin, 7 Dec. 1925.

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.