This identified wooden fife is a unique specimen of a typical musical wind instrument as used during the eighteenth century and later. Specimen is identified to a William R. Greene, and dated 1819 via numerous notations hand carved in small letters and numbers into the fife’s cylindrical surfaces. Carvings are found on the entire surface body of the fife and all seem to tell a story that William Green himself wised to convey.

Words and numbers are carved from ferrule to ferrule, right to left, and left to right in short sentences. Words include: “whistle;” “property;” “I own this myself;” “bullets”; “drume;” and numerous carvings of “AD 1819.” Hard to decipher.  Phrases that can be made out include: “the property of William Rd Greene Amen 1819”; “C W L fife 1819”; “O! where is the bullets & drume for A_____ her whistle”; “well so I hown this myself then 1819”; “Wm R G 1819”.

In very fine condition, this narrow, cylindrical fife bears no maker’s mark and measures 14 5/8” long with a ½” diameter. Instrument is made of maple or sapwood and wears a pleasant, medium-brown patina. Wood fife displays two brass bands or ferrules each 1” long at the ends. Each ferrule has two sets of two thin, decorative tooling rings at the ferrule edges. Made in the key of B-flat, the non-tapered fife exhibits six evenly spaced finger holes of approximately ¼” diameter that start from the tip and work back toward the single mouthpiece hole. The mouth hole or opening is located on the opposite end of fife. Instrument is in excellent condition with no cracks or splits. Body surface smooth and hard with no dings or dents. Brass ferrules show a dark patina. A scarce, but excellent representative musical wind instrument from the early 18^th century that is identified.

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