Two of the most old-fashioned towns to be found in Europe are Nuremberg and Chester, and comparisons between them are often made and similarities and coincidences pointed out. It is a remarkable fact that the only sets of Recorders now known to exist are to be found in those two cities. In the year 1886, the Chester Archaeological Society moved into new quarters in the freshly built central “Grosvenor” Museum. Amongst the lumber from its old rooms was a peculiarly shaped box (which crumbled to pieces almost immediately) and in it the Secretary found what he thought to be “an ancient bassoon.” On viewing the remains, what was my delight to find that the Society was the possessor of a rare set of ancient Flutes-a-Bec, or Recorders.