Top lots from the London sales

Despite the problems of Covid-19, the October sales went ahead as planned in the capital. Kevin MacDonald reviews some of the highlights

Overseas bidders, collectors and investors are keeping the market buoyant

This c.1700 Vincenzo Rugeri made £193,200 at Brompton’s

ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE AUCTION HOUSES

T he October season has witnessed a series of adjustments to new conditions. There were no mass viewings in large halls. Amati and Gardiner Houlgate did not make their usual pilgrimages to London, and the latter held no October sale at all. Ingles & Hayday (I&H) upped their game by doubling photos and providing demonstration videos for every instrument in their sale; they also auctioned online for their second sale in a row.

I had a chance to discuss the 2020 auction world with Tim Ingles of I&H and Tarisio’s Marie Turini-Viard. I asked Ingles about their recent changes. He indicated that while they would ultimately like to go back to the excitement and atmosphere of traditional in-person auctions, and will retain printed catalogues, the upgrading of online listings with video clips is a new development that it would be difficult to retreat from. One wonders if this will perforce become a ‘new normal’ for others as well.

One important impact of the epidemic has been the supply of fresh lots to the auction houses. Was it becoming more difficult to scout for instruments and bows abroad, or was there an influx of financially stressed musicians cashing in their instruments? A bit of both, it seems. Having less ability to travel and evaluate instruments owing to rolling quarantines has meant fewer top lots. Regarding musicians, Marie Turini-Viard emphasised that although more musicians are selling, they tend to be parting only with second instruments and back-up bows. I also asked her about the market itself: was there a shifting demographic that was supporting sales at a high level? She noted that overseas bidders were proportionately increasing, and that financially secure collectors and investors were keeping the market buoyant.

This was apparent in October’s sales results, which were particularly strong for I&H and Tarisio. I&H sold around 76 per cent of their lots for £2,686,764, while by the end of its second round Tarisio had sold 89 per cent for £1,442,376. Brompton’s was rather less successful in terms of percentage sold, but managed to sell their two top lots – one being the c.1700 ‘ex-Isenberg’ Pietro Guarneri of Mantua violin, the star of the season – for undisclosed amounts.

I&H had some top-end violins that went for well above their upper estimates: a c.1700 Vincenzo Rugeri (with scroll probably by G.B. Rogeri) made £193,200, an immaculate and rare 1836 violin by Gaetano Guadagnini II (which probably served in the premiere of The Pirates of Penzance) achieved £144,000, and a c.1795 Giuseppe & Antonio Gagliano violin sold for £132,000. I&H’s top lot was a wellpreserved 1830 Pressenda violin, pegging its top estimate at £300,000. Tarisio’s top lot was a c.1690 Francesco Rugeri violin with both Hill and Dykes certificates and a dendro report from Peter Ratcliff with a latest ring dated to 1660. It sold within estimate for £140,600. Other notables from Tarisio included a c.1770 violin by Antonio Gragnani (£112,100), a 1923 Annibale Fagnola (£106,200), and a c.1805 François-Louis Pique, sold with its original neck (£76,700).

In the line of Maggini or Magginiesque violins, Brompton’s sold (for £88,500) a violin labelled Maggini, but identified by Peter Biddulph as a G.B. Rogeri of Brescia c.1700. This was backed up by a Ratcliff last-ring dendro determination of 1683. Indeed, dendrochronological determinations have become de rigueur for everything associated with Maggini (who died c.1630), and the lack of one might explain why a c.1600 Maggini violin failed to sell at I&H.

Tarisio sold this c.1805 François-Louis Pique violin for £76,700

This Nicolas Léonard Tourte violin bow went for £12,000 at I&H

Bows sold well in all price ranges, with a number of interesting items

Another I&H success was this rare 1836 Gaetano Guadagnini II violin, which made £144,000

Georg Kloz II (1723–97) is not the member of the Kloz family most commonly encountered on the market; one much more frequently sees violins by (or sold as) Aegidius or Sebastian. However, by a quirk of serendipity, four Georg Kloz II violins (by or attributed to him) came on the market across all three of the major houses this October, and the best three examples sold with strong bidding, in particular a fine, highly arched 1777 instrument that went well above estimate for £18,000 at I&H.

Bows sold well in all price ranges, and there were a number of historically interesting items. At I&H a Cramer-style Nicolas Léonard Tourte violin bow with original frog and flat ivory mount went for more than double its top estimate at £12,000. Also at that house, a storied gold-mounted Sartory made for and inscribed to Ysaÿe around 1928 nearly quadrupled its top estimate at £31,200. Meanwhile, Brompton’s sold a very fine English cello bow stamped ‘Forster’ and identified to a member of the Dodd family – though I think Thomas Tubbs might also be a possibility. It made £8,620.

Despite bright spots, hard times did take their toll. There were many 20thcentury Italian violins on the market, and given current circumstances and a heightened supply of these players’ instruments, a good number did not sell. Brompton’s had more than 20 on the block and only about half were successfully dispatched, including a 1946 instrument by Gaetano Gadda (£35,400), a 1980 Otello Bignami (£20,600) and a 1967 example by Vittorio Bellarosa (£11,800). There was one Italian sold by Tarisio that was particularly new; it had been made and certificated by its maker Massimo Negroni in June 2020. This sales strategy netted £8,400.

Cellos were relatively hard to move for all dealers, with a number of medium-to lower-range instruments going unsold. This was not the case with lots such as a c.1780 Giovanni Battista Genova of Turin cello which made £144,000 at I&H and an interesting 18th-century Italian instrument labelled Ferdinando Gagliano which sold for £94,000 at Tarisio.

Finally, I would like to observe I&H’s lot 184, a violin labelled as a Venetian but now attributed to the Prague School c.1770. It was the main violin of Donald Stewart from the 1940s and used in recording the soundtracks of Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark among others. In the player’s belief it was an old Italian, it performed musically just as expected for over a lifetime, and went slightly above its top estimate for £7,200.