AUCTION REPORT

The autumn sales saw a newcomer take the stage, in the form of Tarisio’s Berlin sale room. Kevin MacDonald reports on some of the highlights in London and Germany

There can be little doubt that I&H came out on top, with an impressive brace of six-figure lots

Ingles & Hayday sold this 1747 Guadagnini violin for £780,000

GUADAGNINI PHOTO INGLES & HAYDAY

November witnessed a return to quasi-normality in London, with dual public viewings by Ingles & Hayday (I&H) and Brompton’s at the Royal Over-Seas League, and Amati back at the Langham. As happy as everyone was to see each other, there was a noted reduction from normal footfall, undoubtedly due to lingering pandemic worries about international travel.

There can be little doubt that I&H came out on top once more, with an impressive brace of six-figure lots and overall sales totalling £2,957,000. Brompton’s also had outstanding results, their best sale yet in the online era, with a total of £2,200,000. However, Tarisio’s shift to Berlin (with an additional, small, twenty lot London auction) does not yet appear to have bedded in. One might surmise that their shift to the continent had something to do with the sourcing of lots and better access to the post-Brexit European market. Yet there were relatively few major lots and the centrepiece of the sale (a seven-figure Milan-period violin by G.B. Guadagnini), itself submitted from outside of Europe, was withdrawn for unknown reasons mid-sale. Despite these setbacks the usually outstanding Tarisio sales rate (over 85 per cent) was on par, with the top Berlin lot, a pristine 1945 Ansaldo Poggi violin, selling well over estimate for €264,000. Also sold by Tarisio Berlin was a rare Vuillaume cello with Vatelot certificate for €212,400. For the spring season Tarisio will be reversing their European auctions, with a London sale in March and a Berlin sale in April.

Overall, the top autumn lot was a 1747 (Piacenza) Guadagnini violin with a pedigree going back to 1887 ranging from the Hills to the Polish violinist Paul Kochanski, and the Chilean collector Antonio Antoncich. It was sold by I&H for £780,000, a quarter-million above estimate. Another Guadagnini (c.1748), which spent most of the past century in the US, also sold at I&H above estimate for £264,000. Other golden-age Italian violins from I&H included two Carlo Antonio Testores (c.1725 and c.1750, making £90,000 and £56,400 respectively), a c.1730 Francesco Gofriller (£180,000), and a 1762 Lorenzo Carcassi (£54,000). Tarisio London sold a c.1710 Carlo Tononi violin, labelled as a ‘Joseph Guarnerius “filius Andreae”’, with their own proforma certificate for £88,333.

Brompton’s had a trio of six-figure violin lots, including a Pietro Guarneri of Mantua which sold for in excess of £500,000, a 1696 Giovanni Grancino which made £141,600, and the c.1780 ‘ex-Mosse’ Nicolò Gagliano. The Gagliano was supported by a Biddulph certificate and a dendrochronology report with a 1775 latest ring date and a probable same-tree match with Gennaro Gagliano – it made £216,000.

I&H’s sale included items from two collections. The first of these was the second half of the Martin Lovett (ex-Amadeus Quartet cellist) collection, ranging from instruments to bows, books, art and memorabilia. An unlabelled and unattributed mid-19thcentury French cello (probably Mirecourt) attracted particular interest, more than tripling its top estimate at £38,400. Whether this was the draw of the legendary owner, fine tone, and/or some potential attribution is not known. Also offered for sale was the late violin– piano duo Maurice and Marta Clare’s collection. This interesting group of mainly British violins and bows featured a well-preserved c.1820 Richard Tobin violin (£10,200) and a number of increasingly sought-after transitional John Dodd or Dodd-school bows. One particularly remarkable lot in this group was an ivory-mounted Baroque bow attributed to Stradivari, which sold well (£14,400) but had a whiff of overengineered Victorian style about it.

This c.1710 Daniel Parker viola sold well over estimate at Brompton’s

PARKER PHOTO BROMPTON’S. PANORMO PHOTO TARISIO. SCROLL PHOTO INGLES & HAYDAY

Tarisio London sold this Panormo & Sons violin, formerly ascribed to Grancino, for £35,400

This unlabelled 19th-century French cello went for triple its estimate at I&H

As in other recent auctions, viola sales were somewhat uneven (for example, a handsome Magginimodel Vuillaume went unsold at I&H). However, one historically important lot at Brompton’s sold well over estimate and merits particular attention. This was a c.1710 Daniel Parker viola with Hill number and certificate by John Dilworth. Renowned as England’s foremost 18th-century violin maker, Parker has had few violas assigned to him. This Cremona-influenced 411mm (back length) model has a mixture of Amatise and Stradivarian elements with typical Parker edgework and varnish. It bears comparison with a 414mm Parker viola illustrated in The History of the Viola, Volume II (Riley, 1991).

A number of significant bows were also offered across the houses. Perhaps the most notable was a Nikolai Kittel gold and tortoiseshell violin bow certificated by Klaus Grünke as being made by Heinrich Knopf, which brought in €94,400 at Tarisio Berlin. Brompton’s sold two James Tubbs bows which were illustrated in the 1975 Retford Centenary Exhibition volume; a rare octagonal stick violin bow (£4,560) and an 83rd birthday celebration violin bow (£13,400). Brompton’s also sold a fine gold and tortoiseshell-mounted François Nicolas Voirin violin bow for £32,400. I&H achieved top estimate on a first-rate silver-mounted c.1910 Sartory cello bow (£38,400).

Strong results were apparent in lots by makers whose works are still comparative bargains

Strong results were also apparent in mid-range violin lots by makers whose works, while gradually on the rise, are still comparative bargains. Four in particular come to mind, the first three from I&H: a highly representative early period 1795 Franz Geissenhoff sold for £16,800; a Georges Chanot I (Paris, 1837) going well over top estimate at £45,600; and a labelled – they rarely are – Bernhard Fendt Sr (1800, London) in excellent condition which went for £28,400. Finally, Tarisio London sold a very interesting violin originally labelled and ascribed to Giovanni Grancino, but now firmly assigned to Joseph Panormo & Sons (c.1810, London) for £35,400.

All sale prices include buyer’s premium