Louis Lot flutes belong to an elite group of instruments manufactured in the workshop established by Louis Lot, one of the most famous Boehm flute makers in history. By 1847, Lot and his partner, Vincent Hypolite Godfroy, had purchased the exclusive rights to the manufacture, in France, of Theobald Boehm’s new cylinder flute. Unlike other manufacturers of Boehm flutes (including Boehm himself, who introduced many variations), Godfroy and Lot standardized the cylinder flute model.
Following the dissolution of the eighteen-year partnership between Godfroy and Lot in 1854, Lot began to produce flutes bearing his own mark. Although he continued to produce wood flutes, he concentrated on the production of metal cylinder flutes. By 1860, the Paris Conservatory, which a mere twenty years earlier had rejected any idea of introducing the Boehm flute to its students, contracted with Lot to be their official flute supplier. As a result, the year 1860 is acknowledged by many to be a turning point in the history of the French School of Flute Playing. During the next seven years, Lot made several small, yet significant, changes to his flute design. His new model was more durable and could produce a bigger sound. (It was this same model that was copied in the 1920s by the Boston firm of William S. Haynes and its director, Verne Q. Powell.)
After Lot retired in 1876, the firm passed through a couple of different hands until 1889, when it was purchased by E. Barat. It was under Barat’s ownership of the Lot workshop that Piltch’s flute was produced in 1898. National Music Museum
Louis Lot Flutes
| Serial number | Year of make |
| 982-1079 | 1865 |
| 1080-1177 | 1867 |
| 1178-1275 | 1868 |
| 1276-1375 | 1869 |
| 1376-1498 | 1870 |
| 1499-1621 | 1871 |
| 1622-1746 | 1872 |
| 1747-1866 | 1873 |
| 1867-1986 | 1874 |
| 1987-2106 | 1875 |
| 2107-2226 | 1876 |