Saturday 31 August 2013

On eBay



Someone snagged a tidy looking piccolo on eBay last night. I was going to bid till it went above 50 quid. It is made of cocus and nickel and was marked as follows:


CLASS A
BESSON & CO.
MAKERS
198 EUSTON ROAD
LONDON
598

The mouthpiece and tuning barrel are also stamped as follows
BESSON & CO.
LONDON
ENGLAND
figure of a STAR

It sold for about 100 pounds.
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2 comments:

  1. Tyler Alderson31 August 2013 at 19:58

    For someone who is looking to get a first wood piccolo, would you recommend trolling ebay for one of these older keyed ones that pop up or buying a new keyless one from Sweetheart, Angus, etc? Looking to spend no more than €200, and preferably more in the 100-150 range...

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    Replies
    1. Unknown1 September 2013 at 01:14

      Hello Tyler,
      It depends really. I have seen some real decent English, French, and German piccolos sell for under 50 pounds. The thing is you then have to deal with reppading and then barrel cracks, also pitch can be an issue as not all will play in a440. What you do get is keys on antiques. A keyed piccolo by a modern maker will start to become dear. Sweetheart stuff is good. I have not played an Angus instrument yet. Peter Worrell instruments start around 200 pounds and are really very nice. My Murray piccolo found no takers at 80 pounds (though the seller advertised it as a fife). I found the old ad and saw it was an old friend selling it. I traded her an old German flute that was a decent player as I knew she always wanted a wooden flute. Take Care, Patrick

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