Collector’s fiddles fetch $5 million online
NewsThe London violin expert Norman Rosenberg died in February, aged 95.
His collection was sold off yesterday by Ingles & Hayday in a the first of two auctions where 96 lots fetched £4,688,000.
A Stradivarius that Norman had owned for 60 years went for £1.8m.
Many lots went for double their high estimate, including a Bernadel violin which sold for £36,000 (estimate £12,000–£18,000); the ex-Willy Hess Balestrieri, £144,000 (estimate £40,000–£60,000); and a Sgarabotto violin, £72,000 (estimate £20,00–30,000). Bows also did well: a Voirin went for £26,400 (estimate £6,000–£8,000); a Dominique Peccatte £120,000 (estimate £30,000–£50,000) and a Pajeot £66,000 (estimate £20,000–£30,000).
Auction houses typically put low estimates for obvious reasons. My nephew was bidding. Try visiting a dealer and see the prices. These were good deals, and we can figure that because the stock had been held in this fine collection for so long, selected for retention by a major name in the business means something.
And long retention by a major name also holds out a reason to assume that things have been well and properly cared for. So Gerry — was your nephew successful on any of his bids? 96 lots for 4,700,00 given the highest prices mentioned here (for the more mouth-watering names) suggests that many things must have been relatively affordable.
$5,000,000.00 in one fell swoop! Emile Herrmann, whose wife Kira Yurkevich sponsored my mother and maternal grandmother to come to America during the Truman administration, sold about $5 million in violins during his entire career as violin dealer and maker in New York and Connecticut. If only my grandmother had the foresight and money to invest in one of those rare violins!