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A flute that is both weird and functional is topped in its oddity only by the life and times of its creator.
The brief story of the extraordinary William Chester Minor is this: He was a U.S. Army surgeon during the Civil War who was found to be suffering from a mental illness and spent time in an asylum in Washington, DC; he travelled to England in 1871; he killed a man; and finally he was sent to Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum.
The longer story is rather more interesting and includes the design of one of the most bizarre flutes ever made.
The Professor and the Madman
There is a fine book about Dr. Minor by Simon Winchester, The Surgeon of Crowthorne (published in the United States as The Professor and the Madman). Winchester describes Minor's incarceration at Broadmoor and deals in detail with his work on the first edition of what became the massive Oxford English Dictionary. Winchester mentioned that Minor played the flute. Of course, I found this interesting, and when I was researching my book on the flutemakers Rudall Carte, I found two entries in the company's records referring to Minor-the first from 1876 for a silver 1867 Patent flute, quite a standard model with the serial mark AUE; and the second from 1880 for an experimental smallbore wooden flute, serial number 865.
A few years ago I received an e-mail from a collector friend in Japan, Masaki Ikegaya. "Can you tell me anything about Rudall Carte flute number 865?" he asked.
Well, yes, Masaki san, I replied, I can tell you quite a bit about it! Masaki had purchased the flute online from the United States and had had it beautifully restored. He sent me pictures. This was one of the most bizarre instruments I had ever seen. Some time later, Masaki told me he would really like the flute to be returned to Britain. A deal was struck, and this amazing flute is now in my collection.
Then, last year a friend in Britain announced that he was downsizing and selling his large collection of instruments, including 14 flutes, one of which turned out to be the silver 1867 Patent instrument that had belonged to Minor. I bought all...