Moore VI flute

[milandro]

Has anyone ever heard of a flute with just the word or name Moore engraved on it (but not Jack Moore), no indication of the place where it was made and the Roman numeral VI?

This is a flute with no other indication than this, no serial number, offset G, closed keys, Low B foot with gizmo and an headjoint with an engraved butterfly ( but not like the Ian McLauchlan one!) on the lipplate. Also a friend of mine has tested it and it appears to be testing solid silver.

I have emailed Mr. Jack Moore in the hope that he knows something about these flutes (or this flute). I am very puzzled by this. It appears to have some quality, the toneholes are drawn and rolled and by the weight you could maybe think that it is indeed silver. Who would make an imitation in solid silver?

I have contacted the original owner of the flute. On the headjoint there is an engraving with a first name, Berdien.

I wasn’t sure but because of this it might have been a flute that once belonged to a famous Dutch flutist, Ms. Berdien Stenberg (she became famous in the ’80 with a pop number based on a classic piece by Saverio Mercadante called Rondò Russo. She went on producing a number of easy listening pop numbers more or less loosely based on classical pieces and produced albums with Richard Clayderman, James Last and Jaap van Sweden).

I wrote her and she indeed kindly confirmed that she had owned this flute when she was a student at the conservatory (late ’70) in The Hague and that she sold it at a certain point of her career because she wanted to buy another flute but couldn’t keep such a valuable flute together with her new flute.

She confirmed it is a Jack Moore, solid silver, flute with a custom made and engraved headjoint.

Unlike later example of his work this flute only has the name Moore and the Roman numeral VI ( which could be the equivalent of a serial number VI of a series of XX or MOORE?) .

So, at this stage, I know that the original owner THINKS this is a Jack Moore made flute, I know that it is solid silver, I know it once belonged to Ms. Berdien Stemberg when she was a conservatory student but I would like to hear a bit more from the maker himself or someone else who knows about these early Moore flutes.

I have emailed several times the very kind Ms. Marilyn Moore and Mr. Jack Moore, they have patiently and kindly answered my questions about this flute.

Mr. Moore cannot remember making this flute but says too that he cannot absolutely be certain about it, although he usually put his full name on it and the location where he made flutes at the time and marked his flutes with a serial number.

Mr. Moore is an elderly gentleman and has has a very long career in flute making.

Nevertheless this is a solid silver flute and some other experts have identified this as being an early Heritage flute.

So, could this have been made at Armstrong when Mr. Moore was still there or when he had just left the company?

The Butterfly engraving and the name of the original owner engraved on the Headjoint ( Berdien for Ms. Berdien Stenberg) might be a later addition but the name Moore and the Numeral VI have been carefully hand engraved on the flute

Here some pictures
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e132/ ... aa7205.jpg

[pied_piper]

You might contact Lars Kirmser at music_trader@musictrader.com. He worked at Armstrong when Jack Moore was there. Maybe he can provide some insights to your flute...

[milandro]

thanks, tried that several days ago, got no answer, yet.