EARLY MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS - AUCTION RESULTS

Auction Sale Results of Early Musical Instruments.

A diamond necklace that once belonged to Catherine the Great that reached over 2,000,000 CHF Swiss Francs (about $1.5 million US dollars) at a Sotheby's auction of 'Magnificent Jewels' in Switzerland on 17th November made headline news.

Slightly less 'dazzling', however, was the Sothebys November auction of Early Musical Instruments.... Perhaps the sale was overshadowed by their sparkling event the week before, where a record price was attained for a Bergonzi violin which had once belonged Paganini....

With apparently just over fifty per cent of their lots sold, it would seem that Sothebys held a relatively low-key Sale of Early Musical Instruments on November 8th. The prices attained for sold lots appeared to meet estimates comfortably, however. Included were keyboard instruments, woodwind, brass and stringed instruments.
The latter performed particularly well during the sale, leaving only three out of the eleven stringed lots unsold. The three unsold lots were: a Harp Lute c.1820, with an estimate of 800 - 1,200 GBP, an early nineteenth century Milanese Mandolin (estimate 1,200 to 1,800 GBP) and a lot of three Dancing-Master Kits, with a pre-sale estimate of 2,000 to 3,000 GBP.
The star of the string lots was a beautiful Bass Viola Da Gamba by Hendrik Jacobs. Made in Amsterdam, c.1675 (with a string length of 680mm & length of back: 645mm) it sold for 38,400 GBP (including the buyer's premium), reaching the lower end of its estimate. A guitar c.1830 by Louis Panormo exceded its estimate, attaining 3,000 GBP. An interesting small 'German' 15 1/2 inch viola, which had been converted from a viola d'amore, made 6,000 GBP - three times the higher end of the pre-sale estimate. It was labelled 'Jacob Raymann, at ye Bell Yard in Southwark, London 1653'. Some bidders must have seen more in the instrument than the worth of the auction house's estimate.
A quinton (a French five-stringed 'cross' between a violin and a treble viol used c.1730-1789) made by Louis Guersan in Paris 1752 attained 3,600 GBP, also beating its 1,800 to 2,500 GBP estimate and an English tenor Viola da Gamba by Frederick Hintz with a back length of 536mm made 6,600 GBP.

The most expensive lot of the day, however, was a two-manual harpsichord by Burkat Shudi and John Broadwood of London 1773. That fetched 102,000 GBP - an instrument worthy of Catherine the Great herself.

Fiona Vilnite, Editor musicforstrings.com