Hmm. Just noticed the date of the last blog! I
think I'll have to change my approach to this, since the blog I've been meaning
to write since then...the one about the cost of old flutes...keeps on
retreating into the future. ( Can you use that expression? I read somewhere
recently that there's a society somewhere who see the future as behind them and
the past in front, logic being that you can't see the future, but can see the
past. Makes sense to me)
I had written before about the cost and economics
of the new flute, but as someone who is passionately interested in old flutes,
both as a restorer and a collector myself, I really wanted to talk about the
price of old flutes, vintage flutes, antique flutes, what ever you want to call
them.
One thing that I have often remarked upon is how
the emphasis among players shifted very quickly away from old flutes and
towards the new in a short period time.
When I began making in 1979, and I was among the
first, the vast, vast, majority of well known players played old flutes (I
suppose to be more precise here I should say that what I have in mind when I
talk about "old flutes" are generally English simple system flutes
from the 19th century) By the late 1980s that situation had completely
reversed, largely I believe because the quality and design of new flutes made
them superior for the type of music being played.
This in itself had an effect on the price of old
flutes, in a relative sense at least, as top quality new flutes began to be at
least, and often more, expensive than the best old ones had been.
But there has always been something distinct about
the market for old flutes, that sets it apart from the general area of antique
musical instruments. Looking through the sales records of the major auction
houses that have musical instrument sales, one of the most striking things, for
me at any rate, is how with stringed, keyboard, and many other types of
instrument, the price is controlled by such factors as age, rarity, and
quality. We're all aware of the fabulous prices that Italian violins fetch, for
example. Part of the reason for this, and one of the distinguishing factors
between strings and woodwind is that the strings still have a musical
functionality. Old Italian violins still feature largely in the hands of orchestral
musicians worldwide. Since the advent of the Boehm flute the simple system
flute has become very largely the concern of museums and collectors in general.
It’s role in Irish traditional music and in the early music movement is a very
small one overall, and as with Irish music, in early music modern copies
nowdays have a bigger role to play.
Even given their bowing out to the modern flute,
this does not quite explain how factors such as age, rarity, and quality seem
to operate differently in this field. Antique firearms, for example have no
practical modern role and yet the oldest and rarest, of the finest quality
command very high prices.
Before I go any further it should be pointed out
that from the buyer’s point of view there are two distinct levels of price…that
of the auction and that of the dealer. A little consideration establishes that
the auction price depends on the number of buyers who are interested in a
particular flute, which can vary widely from day to day and place to place. The
dealer on the other hand has a fixed price which is almost always higher, based
on such factors as immediate availability, the availability of fully restored
instruments, and often the ability to see and try the flute before buying.
The advent of the new flute has had an effect on the prices of old
flutes simply because of the forces of supply and demand, as has the current
economic downturn, to use a euphenism. And yet, the major element controlling
the price of old flutes seems to be whether they are made by Rudall and Rose or
not. There are of course many exceptions to this rule, but as a generalisation
it certainly works.
I would emphasize that, contrary to what most people think, the
auctioneers, even those from prestigious houses selling high end instruments,
have a very limited level of knowledge and expertise. So, I think that one way
to look at what’s going on is to realise that a lot of people in the area (these
days encouraged by internet boards), buyers, sellers, auctioneers, have latched
onto the idea that flutes by Rudall and Rose ( and of course the other
combinations of the firm with Carte) are the epitome of the 19th
century simple system flute, and this idea is perpetuated to the exclusion of
anything else. Like a snowball rolling down a hill, as long as it keeps going,
it just gets bigger and bigger. One of the strongest points supporting this
approach is, of course, that the flutes made by this firm are wonderful
instruments, and truly deserve a central role. But the converse of this is that
it diminishes the wonderful work done by many other makers, whose reputations
in modern times lie in obscurity in the shadow cast by the promotion of Rudall
and Rose.
In terms of the criteria mentioned above which normally determine the
price of antiques, flutes by R & R certainly don’t score highly on the
rarity front…with somewhere in the region of 7000 8 key flutes made between
1821 and the end of the century they are among the commonest of the type. In
terms of age, all the flutes I’m talking about here are from the same period so
that doesn’t really enter into it, and in terms of quality, doubtless though
the quality of Rudall & Rose’s output is, it is easily matched, and often
surpassed by the work of contemporaries.
Although the market for old flutes has fallen quite a bit in recent
years, the large numbers of flutes made by Rudall and Rose ensures that they
still come on the market frequently, and despite the fall in the market
generally, appear to realise an average price of somewhere in the region of £stg2500.
This will be for what we might call a standard R & R 8 keyed flute.
At the same time instruments of much greater beauty, rarity, and
significance to the world of the simple system flute in general often change
hands for around a third of this price.
Remarkable and confusing, but true.
I suppose one advantage, looking at it from a collectors point of view,
is that it allows someone of restricted means to buy high quality instruments,
and a large part of the fun of collecting anything is the satisfaction of
discovering and buying something for a fraction of it’s real value.
And just to show that it’s dangerous to deal in generalities, or perhaps
it really is the exception that proves the rule, consider this;
Within the last year a bog standard “German” flute was sold on ebay for
$2000 and an absolutely mint Rudall, Rose & Carte 8 keyed flute in original
case was sold at auction for £180…
