Sold with a card mounted on the inside of the lid of the box dated 24 October 1809 signed Beetz stating that the flute was obtained from a Herr von Wolff who said it had belonged to Frederick the Great, and two later notes dated 1st May 1889 and 1953 documenting the instrument's provenance within the Beetz family.

Friedrich Gabriel August Kirst (1750-1806) was from 1779 the salaried flute-maker to the renowned flautist Frederick the Great of Prussia (reigned 1740-1786), who had been taught by Quantz. Kirst served his apprenticeship with August Grenser in Dresden but from about 1770 worked in Potsdam, employed at first by a maker called Freyer. On Freyer's death in 1772, Kirst married his widow and took over the business which he managed with considerable success until his retirement in 1804.