This wooden flute was bought at a Gardiner Houlgate auction. It is very well made as can be seen from the back clutch. It has an open G# key but it is really not that difficult to get used to. Kharkovsky used an open G# flute to premiere the Prokofiev Sonata and more recently Celia Redgate has recorded a CD called The English Flute using an open G# Rudall Carte  see www.celiaredgate.com/.
The open G# actually gives the flute a bit more stability than a standard flute for example when playing C#. There is no name stamped anywhere on the flute and it has been searched over with the aid of a magnifying glass. However it looks very similar to a Louis Lot flute with an open G# in the Berlin Instrument Museum so it may be French from La Couture Boussey. At the end of the 19th century there were many small instrument workshops in the region of  Eure in South Normandy which manufactured unbranded instruments for sale to music shops. There are very few records left of these small workshops so it is impossible to know the precise origins of many instruments. Isidor Lot had a workshop in La Couture Boussey so it is entirely feasible that this flute could have been made by one of the workers trained in his business, or one of its successors. The truth is that we will never know but it  is still a joy to play a finely made flute such as this. It plays fine up to about D6 and then goes slightly off tune against a piano. However, its perfect for playing the Handel Sonatas or the Bach Rondeau which don't go too high.