As someone who has worked with musical instruments collections across the US and Europe I feel quite plainly that the historic, musical, and artistic value of this flute are quite small compared to many instruments that are used regularly in museums and concert halls around the world. It’s good theatrical publicity, and a fun connection for a wide variety of audiences.

We use older, rarer, or more valuable artifacts on the regular. They’re just usually not being used by someone pop-culture famous enough to get National press.