Is this piccolo by Emanuel Arista? If so, someone's going to get a great deal on a handmade piccolo.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Emmanuel-Boston-52-Piccolo-W-Case-Wood-Head-Stock_W0QQitemZ300040544635QQihZ020QQcategoryZ16229QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I saw that and did some research. I don't believe it's by Arista. For one thing, he spells his name with only one "m," and hopefully the seller could successfully copy a name. For another, I could find nothing showing that he produces piccolos, particularly in the student range as this is advertised.

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Also, this is listed as a model "52" picc, but most piccs produced by makers of Arista's calibre do not have model numbers, as they only produce one kind....Fully handmade.

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In any case, I would not spend my money on that, but that could turn out to be a poor decision.

I assumed the seller thought it was a model 52, when in reality it was #52 (as in the 52nd piccolo produced by Arista). Also, the seller could've simply misspelled the name. There are no good closeups of any markings on the piccolo, so this is all merely speculation. But it is exciting to imagine what you can get when a seller doesn't do his research.

And, of course, we're all sitting here, primed and ready, drooling over $15 Powells and looking for ebay treasure.

It is indeed exciting, but I don't think we missed out on anything in this instance. There're still the hurdles of him not making piccolos (as far as I can find documented), but instead custom flutes and headjoints, and this picc being a student model.

Well according to this link Arista did indeed make piccolos:

http://www.flutespecialists.com/arista.html

Keep in mind the page reads "updated Sept., 2002" and "Wood Flutes and Piccolos (available soon)".

I really don't think the seller knew anything about the piccolo (The guy runs a pawn shop...). I don't often see student-level piccolos that are wooden with the bubble headjoint and in a (leather?) french style case.

But, as you mentioned, this could be just a copy. I guess we'll never know.

It didn't look like a student model to me either. With the type of engraving on the barrel, it looked to be like a hand made piccolo. Someone got a steal.

Well then it appears I was wrong about the piccolo thing. That's one website I didn't manage to find. It's difficult to tell whether it's wood or not, but it does give the appearance of a wood picc.