Robbert Wijne
The next information is taken from the Ph. D thesis of Dr. Bouterse [1].
Robbert Wijne was born 30 October 1698 in
Nijmegen.
He was the eldest son from the marriage of Hendrik Wijne and Aaltje
Temmen. His father probably was a locksmith. Robbert married 9 April 1724. He
fathered eight children. Several were in turn involved in professions related to
music. There are quite a number of instruments or parts of instruments left in
Musea and private collections, mainly in the Netherlands.
Robbert Wijne died 30
July 1774 in Nijmegen. It seems that the family was rather well of as they owned
at least two houses.
It should be noted that there was at least
one other flute maker in the family , Willem Wijne. Also from Willem Wijne there
still exists one flute.
The flute shown here is from a private collection in Utrecht. as can be seen the top tenon needs a cardboard ring to make the instrument give any sound at all. But then! This is an instrument that sings when played by any good player.
The instrument probably is in fruit wood, but I would guess from the weight that it was heavily impregnated with linseed oil. It is strange that this simple instrument has a nicely ornamented key. 
However, the first copies show that this indeed is an instrument as special as I thought.
The instrument below is from another private collection in the Netherlands. It has amongst others 408 and 415 middle pieces playing very well.
[1]Dutch woodwind instruments and their makers, 1660-1760, Ph. D. Thesis of M. C. J. Bouterse, available on CDROM from the author or from the Dutch "vereniging voor huismuziek" huismuziek@bigfoot.com
