DCM 0744: Johann August Crone Flute in C

Instrument was originally a second-half 18th century one-keyed flute with a foot joint having a D# key. At some point in the 19th century, a new foot joint and 9 nickel silver keys were added to it including a nickel silver ferrule to address the head joint socket crack. Right 1st finger alternate B-flat lever missing and reconstructed by DCM, 1925. Embouchure has a wide silver bushing, not original. Embouchure hole size not original. The ivory cap and ivory ferrule just beneath it are also not original.
Instrument type: Flute in C
Medium: Ivory. See Notes.; 65.4 cm.
Key Holes System: 10 keys, originally 1 key. Saltspoon, post and rod, foot to C, rollers on C#, C.
Mark Maximum: (crown) / I · A · CRONE / (lion rampant)
Mark Additional: Mark on head, upper and lower body.
Condition: Slight cracks in head joint, and slight crack at head joint socket. Upper tenon upper joint a replacement.
Provenance: Howard E. Wurlitzer, Cincinnati, Ohio, 12 Aug. 1927. DCM ledger: "Mr. Wurlitzer says he purchased the flute from a Russian refugee, in Berlin, in 1919 [see flute case]; it was represented as having once belonged to one of the Grand Dukes of Russia."

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.