We spent a weekend in Bath recently. Among other attractions of the area, it turns out there is a quarterly auction of musical instruments quite close by. This trip didn’t synchronise, but I’ve been browsing the catalogues of previous auctions to see if it’s worth trying to be there at the right time next year. In the process, I’ve come across some wonderfully odd things to buy at auction.

  • A serpent. These seem to turn up quite often, but sell for rather large amounts of money.
  • “Large quantity of Phillips London auction musical instrument catalogues.” Because what you need to buy at an auction is the catalogue for a different auction. Which has closed.
  • A fife and piccolo. “Old” (which seems to be code for “broken-down but not antique”), went for 32 quid.
  • “Fourteen various cast-iron flute key presses.” … For … pressing the keys on a cast-iron flute?
  • Twenty cases: one hard cello case, three double-bass cases, and sixteen (sixteen) soft cello cases. Useful, I imagine, if you plan to bid on:
  • Lot 206, six cellos;
  • Lot 207, six 3/4 size cellos;
  • Lot 208, another six 3/4 size cellos; or
  • Lot 209, three 1/2 size cellos.
  • Five trombones. Which sold, collectively, for 30 quid.
  • Four basoon crooks. (—I bought five trombones, what about you? —Well, I bid on the “quantity of various bassoon sections” but lost. So I’m left with these. Fancy a bassoon crook?)
  • A sousaphone.
  • An ophicleide (which I honestly thought was a made-up instrument).
  • A marching lyre.
  • A marching lyre.

There are also some fine examples of the cataloguer’s art. Savour this one, for instance:

Early 20th century brass adjustable music stand, the shaped spindle ledge supported upon a circular column terminating in triple curving legs and pad feet; also a ukulele banjo, case.

Or the crisply implied distinctions between a “quantity” of bows and a “bundle” of bows, both as distinct from a “small bundle” of bows. (One bow, incidentally, sold for 1500 pounds. The small bundle, for in the region of 12.)

I have to say, I’m tempted to try to pick up a sousaphone or ophicleide. Although I can imagine some difficulties with RyanAir on the way back to Amsterdam…