|
The
U.S. has seen a revival in string instrument auctions over the last couple
of years. After having mostly abandoned the U.S. in favor of London
during the 1990's, the major European auction houses have recently begun
to stage U.S. auctions again. For a time the lone American auction house
offering string instruments was Skinner Inc. in Boston. Butterfields in
Los Angeles made an attempt at the auction market in the 1990's, but
withdrew it's bid several years ago. In early May of 2001 consumers and
dealers witnessed major offerings in the U.S. from three separate houses,
Skinner, Christie's and Tarisio Auctions. In theory this sort of
competition among auctioneers is good news for auction house consumers,
who now can pit auction houses against one another when selling, and have
more choices when buying. But the string instrument business is murky, as
always, and the implications of the current auction trend on the U.S.
market remain unclear.
Sales of string instruments have been booming in recent months, so one
could expect strong results for the best pieces at the May auctions. At
Christie's
sale on May 4 that was certainly the case. This author was skeptical of
the possibility for a sale on Christie's small Amati, but the violin did
find a buyer at the hammer price of $260,000.00. With the buyer's premium
this comes to $292,000.00, close to a retail price for such a violin.
Christie's Ruggieri also found a buyer at $180,000 hammer ($204,000.00
with buyers premium.) The laws of supply and demand were clearly in effect, as some less
desirable lots failed to attract bidders: the Vuillaume was unsold, as was
the Storioni. One could interpret the lack of demand for these lots as
evidence that as prices climb in the string instrument world, so also does
scrutiny over issues of expertise and relative quality. Instruments which
are in any way dubious, as to authenticity or condition, or do not
represent the
better output of the maker in question, are overwhelmingly less sought
after. Overall Christie's grossed $1,339,207, including premiums, and sold
72 percent of the lots offered.
Skinner's sale in Boston on Sunday, May 6 produced decent results in the
mid-range which has always been the strength of this house. A cello, ca.
1800 by
James and Henry Banks made $18,400, and a violin by Charles Nicolas
Eugene Gand, 1881 sold for $13,800.
A violin by Carlo Oddone found a buyer at $39,100 leading one to
wonder if the price gap between Fagnola and Oddone is shrinking much as
the gap between Pressenda and Rocca did in the 1980's. An Alfredo
Contino violin from 1926 sold for $10,925, but the Grancino cello on offer
went unsold as did several other important lots. Skinner reported 86%
percent of lots sold, while bringing in $906,707.00, including premiums.
Tarisio Auctions staged an internet sale which opened on May 7. The
results were solid, if not spectacular - $1,410,385 realized, (including 10% premium,) and 85% sold for an average price of $6,857. In an acute demonstration of the
boom and stagnation cycle of the string instrument market, one of the two
Fagnolas offered at Tarisio did make the bid price of $65,000.00 This
follows on the
heels of an even stronger result for this maker in London earlier in the
year, and it might be concluded that interest in Fagnola has been renewed,
after years
of relative apathy. Perhaps the once booming, and later glutted market for
so called "modern Italian" instruments is somehow recovering
from those recent cycles. One can credibly assert that the Fagnola results
in London and in the Tarisio sale, coupled with the Oddone result at
Skinner, seem to indicate a renewed strength of interest in 20th century
Turin instruments. The Fagnola results at Tarisio also serve to underscore
the fickle nature of the market, wherein no two examples of a maker, and
no two sales events can be relied upon to produce the same outcome.
Tarisio's other Fagnola failed to find any advance on the last bid of
$45,000.00, and so went unsold. Other sales worth noting at Tarisio were
the Scarampella which sold at $32,500.00 bid price, a Leandro Bisiach ca.
1910, which sold at a bid price of $30,000.00, and a violin by the
relatively obscure maker Spiritus Sorsana, which hit the bid price of
$40,000.00.
In a bizarre twist at the Tarisio auction, a lot catalogued as an
interesting gold and tortoiseshell mounted bow, estimated at $1800.00
was withdrawn, and subsequently reinserted in the sale at the lower
estimate of $1600.00. The bow eventually sold for $17,000.00, despite the
fact that it had a major repair to the head. The notion that what insiders
call a "sleeper" would appear at a Tarisio auction has seemed unlikely, given
that the auction is organized by two dealers who have commonly been among
those ferreting out the "sleepers" in other auctions. This
strange turn of circumstances bears witness to the reality of how clouded the string instrument business can be; it
is not uncommon to find confusion or disagreement over expertise, even at
the highest echelons in the business. The most likely conclusion that one
could draw about the bow itself is that at least two different bidders
regarded the lot as an opportunity to buy a rare gold and tortoise shell
Tourte frog and button.
Tarisio is attempting to broaden its retail niche with the inclusion of
their Gallery on the web site. The Tarisio Gallery appears to be offering
fine examples of instruments at retail prices. Can Tarisio provide the
kind of retail service such as adjustment and trade-in policies that
justify full retail pricing? And will the Gallery dilute the image that
Tarisio has been
promoting for itself as an alternative source to the large retail houses?
In contrast to what most in the business might have predicted, bows would
seem to be somewhat less desirable than they were two years ago.
Confirmation
of this trend can be seen at all of these sales, where bows appeared to be
much less in demand than in previous years. As with other segments of the
string instrument market, increasingly only the finest examples of makers
find the kind of interest which drives prices up, and the demand for viola
and cello bows is lagging well behind that for violin bows. Skinner did
have some success in their last sale with several bows, including a
Charles Peccatte at a record auction price of $18,400.00, but in general
the market for bows, especially in the U.S. appears to be flat.
Whether the level of activity in the market, brought on by competing
auction houses, is sustainable over the long haul remains to be seen. In
any case, the
competition among auction houses is likely to be fierce in the coming year,
as the various houses fight to establish both market share and consumer
confidence. ###
Stefan Hersh
Stefan
Hersh is a violinist who teaches at de Paul Universitiy
|
|