Old Bundy Flute help

[Nkbanks]

I have my mother’s old student model Bundy flute, serial number appears to say 378.

Engraving says
Bundy
Reg US Patent Off Selmer
Elkhart, IND

I’ve tried emailing Conn-Selmer for help but they couldn’t tell me anything.

Can anyone help me find information about it? Year of manufacture? Is it a rare find? Etc. Thanks

[frugal flutist]

Hi Nkbanks,
I'm pretty sure that you only have the last three digits of the serial number! I know that flute makers, in the 50's and 60's, (maybe early 70's) in Elkhart-Ind, put the last three or four digits on the head-joint (the part you blow across). To keep the parts of the individual flute together they would often put the full serial number under some of the keys, and on the body, and the foot joint. The full serial number can be hard to see, often under parts of the main body mechanism. Tarnish can make it hard to see as well.

The bad news is, even if that student model is in great shape, it is not worth much. If some part of the flute has the words, silver, sterling silver, it might be worth $100 to $150. But then it would not be a student model, and probably would have a engraved model name.

[Nkbanks]

Thank you. I do know my mother played it in school, which would have been late ‘40s to early ‘50s. I’m sure that her family of meager means would not have been able to buy a new flute so this had to have been used at the time. Just wondering if I can verify any of that with the low serial number.

[pied_piper]

Try looking up the serial number at this site. It has a lot of different brands listed and Bundy is one of them.

https://www.musictrader.com/serialnumbers