"Its our impression that this flute is probably not very old. The key is in the German style, and though it is hard to tell from the photos, it looks like a rosewood or some kind of Pakistani or Indian timber. There seems to be a growth of mildew on the surface, so it must have been stored in damp conditions. The bore will also be subject to same, so be careful about breathing in at the embouchure. Have you been able to test it with a Korg, to determine the tuning, and see how accurate it seems?
"Off the bat, without having the flute in hand, we would say not to spend much money on the restoration of the instrument.
"It might be worth your while cleaning it yourself (after taking off the key, and removing the cork with a dowel and the endcap).
Proceed by first wiping it inside and out with 1:1 bleach to remove spores (and with Q-tips round the tone-holes and embouchure) and wipe it dry. When it it thouroughly dry from that operation, get a vacuum or shop-vac sucker running and sand off the varnish down to clean wood, over the sucker, with no rougher than 400 grit to start, 600 would be safer, going to 800 once the varnish is off, (1200 after oiling), being careful not to deepen the finger holes or change the embouchure edges. Otherwiser you could sand with unadulterated raw pure tung oil (Lee Valley) up to 800 grit. Either way you want to avoid getting the dust into your lungs not knowing what the wood or varnish are made of.
"We use tung oil in the surface sanding with wet-and-dry, fine paper doesn't clog and you use less of it . You can sand the interior of the headjoint, but whatever you do, do not sand the interior of the center joint bore, that will change the taper and could ruin any intentional perturbations, changing the intonation, for what its worth. If the mould has digested some of the interior wood, and you find it soft and "furry" in the bore, than forget it... you can try sanding it, but then you may have to experiment on re-tuning the flute if it. Or take two aspirins and call us in the morning!
"Once the instrument is clean and sanded, and ready for oiling, drop it into pure Tung for a day, and wet sand it with 1200 once its out of the oil. We do not use almond oil at all, as it has a tendency to go rancid, some peeps are allergic to it, and it can clump and render the bore gooey! ...and mould like it too! When you finished your final sanding of the flute after its been in the tung oil, be sure to wipe it completely dry of all oil, in all the nooks and crannies, like the seat of the Eb seat, and the bottoms of the sockets and of course the bore.
"If you are anywhere nearby, come see us at the shop, and we will take a look at it.
"Cheers and good luck"
"PS. If the windings are for pipes, they are windings which do not get wet, and thus the expansion of the thread thickness with condensation and moisture is not a consideration, so it is made out of hemp. If hemp gets wet, it thickens, (that's why they use it in plumbing) In flutes, with the amount of moisture that finds its way into every crevice, the hemp can expand enough to bust the socket. Use only waxed silk thread, or polyester if you cannot find waxed silk, on the tenon combings, or you may crack open the socket along the grain lines, see photo."
By the way, does anyone know how to delete PHOTOS NOW POSTED in the subject heading and insert RESTORATION PIX POSTED. I can't see how I made the change in the first place ...