The ‘Hellier’ violin, dated around 1679, failed to attract a single bid at Christie’s auction house in London on Thursday.
Bidding opened at £5.5 million and not a single hand went up.
The owner had been hoping for £6-9m.
The inlaid instrument has never been owned by a major virtuoso.
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The inlaid instruments are a bit too Gucci/Versace for some. Tacky would be an understatement. If one is to pay top dollar, it better be a timeless piece, not an eyesore
I see what you mean but I think the inlaid Strads look rather pretty. Personal taste I suppose
A failure like that will do the Christie’s reputation no good at all. Not a single bid!
I feel so guilty about this auction failure: we decided to have our house painted this summer, so my savings are a tad bit exhausted.
Well, good! Its about time the prices on these useful instruments stop going up insanely away from the affordability of musicians, and not end up in museums or bank vaults as mere speculative investments. Musical instruments are to be played, and are made to make music, by those who know how to play them.
This is no different than the same instrument being shown by a dealer to someone who decides not to purchase it. Many instruments fail to sell at auction but are subsequently sold by private sale for more than the auction reserve.
I blame the buyers who can afford to pay these insane prices. There are mega rich fanatics about who will pay any price for something they really want.
It’s called “the law of supply and demand.”
In this case, the demand for the instrument at the opening bid level simply wasn’t there.
Agree with you Alex. The Hellier is not a great sounding instrument; more of a fine craft example by the master. Sadly, string instruments follow the overinflated arts market.
Today, there is no way we could afford to buy the instruments we own.
I suspected that an instrument that “had never been owned by a major virtuoso” was not likely to be one of Stradivari’s better violins. Thus, it’s not much of a surprise that the base price was set over-optimistically.
The story, Peter, is that the Hellier was sold directly to an English collector, Hellier, by Stradivari himself and remained in the family for many decades. It was a collector’s instrument from day 1 evidently.
Part of the maintenance of an old Italian violin is periods of rest. They must be preserved for future generations. For example after Henryk Szeryng died his del Gesu was rested for 30 years. I wouldn’t be surprised if Szeryng had stipulated this in his testament. Now that fiddle is in the very capable hands of Augustin Hadelich.
This is just one of the many examples. These instruments cannot last for ever. They need periods of rest.
No matter how unique and special an object is, there is a universal truth that applies in all cases…. the actual market value of the object comes down to one simple fact… Special, unique, irreplaceable though the object may be, the real question is how much is a genuine buyer prepared to pay?
I was once at a dinner party in Hong Kong. Among the party of around ten was a Chinese gentleman who I knew owned a considerable number of fine instruments including several Stradivari. During a conversation, I asked if had purchased any more Strads in recent years. No, was the reply. “They have become much too expensive!” I felt like shouting across the table, “That’s because people like you buy them up and then place them in bank vaults instead of having them played on.” As 1997 and the handover to China was approaching, I heard they had all been moved to vaults out of Hong Kong.
Perhaps they moved to Isle of Man.
I would daresay the best Strads and del Gesues are wildly undervalued compared to paintings—or, the visual art market is the biggest bubble the world has ever known.
It’s an open secret that art prices are 99% driven by money laundering. No surprise that musical instruments have gotten swept up in it. Very sad though.
If it is a good instrument, perhaps they should put it in the hands of a “major virtuoso” and let it rip for a few years. If its value is demonstrated, perhaps someone will want to buy it. For the same reason: to allow a “major virtuoso” to play it.
It’s possible that it doesn’t sound great and that’s why it never got beyond the collection of lower-level player-owners it has had.
I have often seen these sales preceded by a video of an accomplished player giving the instrument a workout to demonstrate how fabulous it sounds. Was there one for this sale?
Yes, there was a video and the violin sounded pretty good. However, it is very difficult to assess an instrument from a recording.
This particular sale reminds me of the sales of seized goods held by various government agencies from time to time. There’s a completely random pile of stuff, and you MIGHT be able to get a really good price if you go to a sale which has failed to attract much attention from the presence of that which you covet. Maybe Christie’s thought word of mouth would get some interested bidders; I suspect any interest in the violin came from people who were there to watch and bid if someone else opened, but we’re hoping to try to grab it cheap in a private sale if no one bid.
Perhaps they should yellow-sticker it, or offer a (substantial) reduction with Clubcard points…
“””The owner had been hoping for £6-9m.”””
And on what grounds?
Oh yes-it is a Stradi….
Would realty be coming to give more common sense?
Best is to put it on Ebay-5 US$-no more!