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Help Identifying A Vintage Flute!

1515 Views 6 Replies 5 Participants Last post by  daveross, 
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Hi all, thanks for reading!

Long time forum member here, who misplaced his credentials and had to create a new account :faceinpalm:

I am a saxophonist and have started dabbling with flute. A while back I picked up a flute that I've been unable to properly identify.

I bought it because I saw "Gemeinhardt" on it, but it doesn't seem to be any type of standard Gemeinhardt. It plays quite well and has a deep vintage sound.

My repair tech gave it a once over a few years back (he's since passed away, unfortunately), but he told me it was a rare find. He mentioned the pad sizes being slightly different than the standard flute pad.

Here's what I can tell you:

-Body and keywork resemble a vintage 1960's Gemeinhardt M2S, with slight discrepancies
-Appears to be made of silver
-Engraving: "A. Gemeinhardt New York U.S.A. XXX" (3 digit serial number)


I can post photos later if requested.

If anyone has any ideas or can point me to some resources, I'd appreciate it!

Thanks all!
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SaxxAppeal said:
I see. I can't find any info on Arthur, but that is the name of the father of Kurt Gemeinhardt's father, founder of the Gemeinhardt company... Is that who we're talking about?
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Arthur Gemeinhardt trained in the family business (August Gemeinhardt und Sohne) in Markneukirchen, Germany. He later worked for several years in the Berlin shop of Emil Rittersahusen. AG emigrated to the US in 1908. He worked for a brief period for William S. Haynes. Around 1916 he set up shop in NYC where he worked for George Haynes and Selmer's US operation (started by Alexandre Selmer, who hired George Bundy to run the place).

Around 1920 Arthur started hius own flute-making business. His brother Walter also had an instrument making outfit in NYC. Kurt Gemeinhardt, founder of the now famous firm in Elkhart was Walter's son, Arthurs nephew.

Arthur's flutes are scarce and mostly sought after by collectors like me.

Dave Ross
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