A rare rosewood or cocuswood flute from the Paris workshop of Clair Godfroy, Aine.

Acquired by us from an estate sale in southern France, the instrument has five keys, tuning barrel, ivory trim. There are no cracks or damage to the wood.

The keywork appears to be gold plated, but there are no hallmarks, which means the plating is perhaps over silver or perhaps over nickel-alloy. The gold plate appears to be original.

The instrument has come to us in a rosewood case and accessories, all in fine condition.

The head section, both center joints and the foot joint are all marked with Godfroy’s “second mark 1818 – 1828 “(see Giannini, page 82) “ (sun) / Godfroy / Aine / ( five-point star”; the tuning barrel is stamped “ ( five-point star / a Paris / five-point star ). Gianinni page 88, plate 45c shows a flute with similar keywork / pad cups but noted as “last stamp 1828-1836”.

Our conclusion is that the instrument was made sometime before 1850, is original and in pristine condition.

The embouchure measures 9.2 X 10.9 mm and the sounding length is 545 mm.

The instrument plays very well at 435 pitch.

$ XXXX, price to be determined later.