Pub landlord pays £6,600 for Churchill’s cigar-box violin

Gerry O’Brien, general manager of The Churchill Arms in Kensington, handed over six grand plus commission for a William Robinson violin made from Winston Churchill’s cigar boxes and once played by Yehudi Menuhin.

The price was six times the top estimate. Maybe Gerry had a quick snifter before he bid.

Other top prices at the Ingles&Hayday auction:

·      GB. Grancino II (violin) – Lot 190, £144,000

·      Ferdinand Gagliano (violin) – Lot 24, £180,000

·      Luigi Vistoli (violin) – Lot 189, £8,700

·      Piero Parravicini (violin) – Lot 187, £15,000

·      Carlo de March (violin) – Lot 176, £12,000

·      William Robinson (violin) – Lot 139, £6,600

·      Giovanni Dollenz (violin) – Lot 98, £28,800

·      Domenico Pasta (violin) – Lot 91, £78,000

·      Hendrick Willems (viola) – Lot 63, £28,800

·      William Tarr (viola) – Lot 60, £5,040

·      J.B. LeFebvre (viola) – Lot 57, £15,600