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Collection Abbreviation	USA-DC-Washington: DCM
Accession	DCM 1359 (S.19)
Maker Abbreviation	Palanca & Castel
Lowest Note	f'
Size	alto
Year Made	c. 1775
Pitch	410
Pieces	3
Length	503
Keys
Material Body	box, stained brown
Material Mounts	ivory beak, ferrules & thumb-bush; silver ferrules
Material Keys
Notes	Head stamped: И. \| CASTEL. \| [lion (or griffin) rampant]; body & foot stamped: CARLO \| PALANCA Ivory thumb bush. Lower section flute shaped. Head joint socket wooden spacer ferrule broken & missing about 90°. Aspects of this instrument are untypical. From the markings it is a combination of two instruments. The head & foot joint socket & ferrule construction is unusual: well-executed, but poor design & likely an alteration. The original appears to have included the normal practice of turning (cutting away) material (box) back to a shoulder to receive a fairly long ornate ferrule (ivory) glued in place. However, both have been turned a second time removing nearly a third of the ivory ferrule & replacing it with a fragile wooden one as a spacer covered with a well-made, turned silver ferrule. The silver ferrules are pronged on the interior for better retention similar to modern woodwind instrument ferrules. The addition of the ferrules is not without logic, but cutting away seemingly stable material (ivory) to apply them is a mystery. Neither socket is cracked & the apparent ferrule revisions seem not to have concerned any repairs. Perhaps the most unusual aspect is the foot exterior design. In place of the typical flared, false bell bottom, the foot tapers down similar to the traverso foot joint design(s) of the period, and the bottom ivory ferrule appears to be original, or period, or at least very skillfully applied if later. Nominal and performance pitch from Haynes (2002: 452). Photographs & measurements here; de Avena Braga (2015: 314-315, figs. 77-80).