Musical instruments worth tens of thousands of pounds will go for auction at Sotheby's this month. Interest in this offering has been heightened by eight record prices for musical instruments set at a recent auction in the United States, where the total amount fetched was more than $1 million (€1.19 million).
A violin, circa 1735, by celebrated violin-maker, Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesu, goes up for auction at Sotheby's in London on November 14th. Acknowledged as a desirable instrument by concert violinists, del Gesu violins are noted for their elegance and construction. This one is expected to fetch £300,000 to £500,000 sterling.
Violin virtuosos associated with del Gesu violins include Paganini in the 19th century and Yehudi Menuhin last century. Del Gesu (1698-1744) signed his work IHS, understood to represent Jesus Hominum Salvator (Jesus Saviour of Humankind). It is believed this is why he is known as del Gesu.
An 1845 violin by Italian maker Giuseppe Rocca (18071865), who made striking violins noted for their tonality and who was influenced by Antonio Stradivari, is estimated at between £70,000 and £100,000.
A set of Irish uillean pipes made in the first half of the 20th century is expected to fetch £1,500 to £2,500.
Meanwhile, on November 16th, at an auction of early musical instruments, also at Sotheby's in London, a harpsichord produced by the Kirckman family is expected to fetch between £60,000 to £80,000 sterling. The Kirckman family was a leading maker of harpsichords in the 18th and 19th centuries, with some 170 instruments surviving.
A 1680 Flemish harpsichord by Joris Britsen, one of only four Britsen instruments known to have survived, features a painting of a village scene with elegant figures, flowers and classical ruins. It bears Britsen's initials and is likely to fetch £40,000 to £60,000.
At a recent Sotheby's auction in Chicago, a 1725 violin by Carlo Tononi fetched $173,250; a violin by Giovanni Battista Guadagnini, dated 1753, went for $161,750; while the total auction made $1,134,000.
Other highlights at the Chicago auction included: a Carl Becker violin, sold for $26,625; an 1871 violin by Samuel Felix Nemessanyi, estimated at $14,000 to $18,000, which made $32,250; a 1944 violin by Archimede Orlandini, which fetched $9,000; a gold-mounted viola, bow crafted by Emile Auguste Ouchard, circa 1955, which sold for $8,400; an 1845 Pierre Simon gold and tortoiseshell-mounted violin bow, estimated at $12,000 to $16,000, fetched $38,125; while a viola by Sebastian Wagner of the latter half of the 18th century sold for $12,000.
On the downside, the 1679 Ex-Parera Stradivari, estimated to fetch in excess of one $1 million, did not reach a bidding level sufficient for sale. Mr Tim Ingles, head of the musical instruments department at Sotheby's, says it's tricky for the lay person to know if an instrument is valuable.
"Part of the reason it's tricky, particularly with violins, is that most of them bear false labels. So if you have a violin in your attic and it says Stradivari inside or Guarneri or Amati, the chances are that that is going to be a copy, I'm afraid. They were hugely copied in the late 19th century, with great workshops in France, Germany and elsewhere, churning out these things.
"So with violins we usually ask to see photographs first. That goes for violas and cellos as well. As far as other types of instrument are concerned, they are much less likely to be faked. So with guitars, woodwind, brass, keyboards, most of them, if they have an inscription, it's likely to be a genuine inscription."
Mr Ian Whyte, of Whyte's auctioneers in Dublin, says he hasn't seen many musical instruments at auction in Ireland and that the musical instrument business here is mostly retail.
jmarms@irish-times.ie
