SOLD – The Starck firm began business in the early 19th century as a woodwind maker. In 1889, Henry Starck was convinced by William Ross, the Queen’s piper, to make bagpipes. The firm made absolutely superb instruments, and many of the pre-1950s sets are as good as those of any other maker.

This set is thought to date into the 1930s. It is blackwood, mounted in full ivory, and has engraved German silver slides. German silver is the name given to a widely used alloy of the time similar to today’s nickel.

The pipes are in excellent condition and required invisible whipping only along a hairline crack in the blowstick. The finish needed only polishing and appears to be original. There are some small, filled cracks in the ivory mount of the blowpipe stock.

I tested this set along with two sets of Hendersons and was impressed by the fact that it was easily as good as the Hendersons in terms of steadiness, richness, blend, volume and proper tuning positions. This is a superb set of pipes.