AUCTIONS Top lots from the London sales

This 1689 Andrea Guarneri violin made £197,100 at Tarisio

PHOTOS COURTESY TARISIO

‘Even repaired Sartory bows are making big prices these days’ – Paul Hayday

The March London auctions seem to lack some of the frisson of the October sales, but this usually makes them a better occasion for achieving bargains. Between them, Tarisio (18 March), Brompton’s (18 March) and Ingles & Hayday (19 March) offered more than 700 lots, from which I will highlight some of the most valuable and interesting.

Tarisio had two of March’s highest-bid lots: a 1689 Andrea Guarneri violin going for £197,100, and a fine 1827 Pressenda viola making £231,000. A wide range of 20th-century Italians at Tarisio ran true to current form, making or exceeding estimates. The two violins of this group that did best both still had their original bridges, which from a collector’s viewpoint cannot have hurt: a 1926 Cesare Candi (£33,000) and a 1971 Ansaldo Poggi (£94,400).

March was also a good month if you were in the market for Eugène Sartory: Tarisio offered a cello bow (£28,800) and a viola bow (£23,600), while Ingles & Hayday had four Sartory violin bows that made between £10,800 and £21,600. As Paul Hayday told me, ‘Even repaired Sartory bows are making big prices these days.’ £20,000 and above for Sartory bows in good shape would appear to be the new normal. Across the houses there was a better than usual range of viola bows on offer, notably two Nicolas Maline bows, one fetching £23,600 at Tarisio, and another making £17,700 at Brompton’s.

On the subject of violas I was struck by one unusual, broad and reasonably arched 411mm model at Tarisio. It was by a member of the rarely encountered Tresselt family of (Gross)Breitenbach in Thuringia, Germany. The Tresselt family were long-established luthiers whose labelled work is rarely encountered today.This instrument made by ‘Theod. Joh. Tresselt’ in 1750 made £20,400 against an upper estimate of £10,000.

This broad viola by a member of the Tresselt family made double its upper estimate

A particularly fascinating group of 14 lots at Tarisio comprised the documents and letters of Marseille violin dealer Marius Richelme (1833–96), including a number of papers associated with Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume. These are a treasure trove of information about the French lutherie and bow trade from the 1850s to the 1890s. Fortunately, all of the letters were acquired by the same bidder, so we might hope to see them kept together in an archive (and perhaps a publication). Together they fetched just over £10,000. Richelme was a bit of a character, writing a few curious publications on lutherie and advocating a return to viol-shaped models for the violin family. By coincidence, one of his viol-shaped violas was on sale at Brompton’s.

Which brings us to the main highlight from Brompton’s, a violin labelled as by Rogeri but certified by Beare Violins Ltd.as being a c.1730 Venetian instrument by Francesco Gofriller. It achieved a record price (for that maker) of £207,000. Brompton’s also had a number of ne British cellos for sale, among them an unlabelled instrument of the school of William Forster, but perhaps a little later than that master, dating to c.1800 and making £14,400. There was also an historically remarkable instrument in the sale: a viola (396mm) with a likely original label of ‘Jacob Rayman, Dwelling in Bell-yard in Southwarke 1650.’ Some may remember that there were two Rayman violins in the landmark ‘British Violin’ exhibition of 1998, and it is probable that this example is now the oldest surviving British viola. Considering it survived the epoch of the Plague and Great Fire of London, it is in very good condition. It did not sell, which is unfortunate as it merits being in a national collection.

Tarisio sold this Sartory cello bow for £28,800

BOW COURTESY TARISIO. VUILLAUME COURTESY INGLES & HAYDAY. GOFRILLER COURTESY BROMPTON’S

Across on New Bond Street, Ingles & Hayday offered some exciting lots including two sought-after Guarneri-model Vuillaume violins, both reaching identical prices of £156,000. Another Vuillaume copy, this one a relatively close approximation of the inked and bejewelled ‘Youssoupo.’ Nicolò Amati violin, sold for more than twice its top estimate at £84,000. If you had ever wondered where the inspiration came from for the red gemstones in the scroll eyes of the cinematic ‘Red Violin’, this is it.

Another star lot was a c.1805 Tourte violin bow, with competitive bidding taking it well over the top estimate to £108,000. An unusually large (362mm) and beautifully varnished Gioffredo Cappa violin of c.1685 made £54,000. There were also some exceptional lots in the middle range. An interesting cello labelled ‘Withers, London’ with a 1971 Hill certicate attributing it to John Lott, made £33,600 against a £16,000 upper estimate. However, it is thought more likely to have been a Withers, or perhaps by Boullangier working for Withers. Also in the sale was a c.1780 Benjamin Banks violin in excellent condition, rst sold in 2008 from the historic Albert Cooper collection. At £7,200 this was a real bargain for someone immediately after sale. Finally, there was a nice 1812 Franz Geissenhof violin, whose £33,600 appears to be a new auction record for this maker. Geissenhof, long billed as the ‘Viennese Stradivari, ’ is the subject of a well-illustrated 2009 monograph by Rudolf Hopfner.