Similar to Unlabelled, German, small-sized violin, late 19th or early 20th century

Small violins that sound well are increasingly popular with young students who have already been studying violin for several years and have made good progress. This example is based on an old Italian model but with strong characteristics of Saxon making from the Klingenthal/Markneukirchen workshops ...

Of the hundreds of thousands of violins made in the Vogtland area of eastern Germany in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, many were labelled with the names of the great Cremonese makers, Stradivari, Guarneri del Gesu and Nicolo Amati. One great German maker joined this triumvirate, ...

While the many hundreds of thousands of Stradivari copy violins made in the workshops of the German Vogtland in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were generically similar, the choice of wood and the different construction methods of the time give considerable variation in tone and re...

At first glance, this intriguing English violin looks like a genuine old Italian instrument, so convincing are the deliberately energetic, rough but controlled tool marks and the choice of materials, along with a certain je ne sais quoi character. George Wulme-Hudson, the early twentieth century Lon...

The famous eighteenth century English maker Richard Duke has been widely imitated, with his Stainer style modelling reproduced with varying success by generations of Vogtland workshops. Happily, this German violin, stamped DUKE LONDON below the button, follows a more graceful Nicolo Amati model, whi...

Western Czechoslovakia, like its Saxon counterparts on the other side of the German border, boasted a major violin making centre in Schnbach. The city, now known as Luby, was home to a number of large musical instrument workshops which, in their heyday, produced around one hundred and fifty thousand...

This charming, unlabelled violin has historically been attributed to Whitmarsh, and it is quite possible that it came from the workshop of either Emanuel Whitmarsh, or his son Edwin who is also know to have imported decent European instruments in the white and finished them with his own varnish. The...

Ernst Glaesel founded Glaesel and Mossner, one of the better commercial workshops in Markneukirchen, in 1873, making a number of grades and styles of violin family instruments. This late nineteenth century example has a surprisingly lovely sound, resonant but smooth and creamy, with a very appealing...

Thomas Warren was one of New Zealands most prominent and productive violin makers in the late twentieth century, establishing a reputation for technical excellence that few other New Zealand makers could match or surpass. This lovely example has a rich, clear, resonant tone across all the four strin...

Peter Wamsley was one of the more prominent English violin makers of the later part of the seventeenth century through to the early-mid eighteenth century. He was appointed violin maker to the Prince of Wales before retiring in 1741 after a long and illustrious career. This violin, inspired by the w...

Charles Jean-Baptiste Collin-Mezin is one of the more well-known French makers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. His own work, culminating in a Grand Prix in 1900, enabled him to expand his workshop, employing a small number of skilled luthiers in Mirecourt to make the subsequent...

This fine, late nineteenth century French violin was made in the workshop of Emile Mennesson, who recruited an elite core of luthiers to create over 3000 high-quality violins, violas and cellos under the conjoint names of Mennesson and Guarin. Over the years, these instruments won a number of medals...

Rushworth and Dreaper, founded in 1828, were makers and dealers in violins, employing a large staff of luthiers under the direction of William Henry Bird, as well as importing instruments from good workshops in Europe. This German-made Artist Apollo violin is one of their more prestigious models, an...

Emanuel Whitmarsh established his London workshop in 1856, making a large number of violins in the following half century before his death in 1908. This vibrant-sounding example is typical of his work, with its broad modelling and its edges carved in the French style. The tone is striking and charac...

Along with James Tubbs, John Dodd is considered Englands pre-eminent bow maker, working at a time when the modern Tourte style bow was still establishing itself west of the English Channel. This German bow, while owing little to the gracefulness of Dodds work, is a good example of the higher grade D...

Joseph Hel trained with Sebastien Vuillaume, nephew of the famous Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume, before setting up his own workshop in Lille in 1865, where he established himself as one of Frances pre-eminent nineteenth century violin makers. Numerous awards and prizes were crowned when he was made an off...

W.E. Hill and Sons became the most prestigious violin dealership in the UK from the late nineteenth century through to their closure in 1992. While they are rightly famous for their expertise in authentication, and for the high-quality violins handmade in their own workshops, it is arguably their bo...

W.E. Hill and Sons became the most prestigious violin dealership in the UK from the late nineteenth century through to their closure in 1992. While they are rightly famous for their expertise in authentication, and for the high-quality violins handmade in their own workshops, it is arguably their bo...

This is an early violin by Malcolm Collins, one of New Zealands most prolific contemporary professional violin makers. Malcolm trained with Ian Sweetman before developing his own, distinctive style, hallmarked by crisply-cut edges in the French Stradivari style, and a subtly coloured oil varnish. Ma...

Adrian Studer trained at the Swiss Violin Making School in Brienz and moved to New Zealand in the mid-1980s, where he rapidly established himself as one of our finest violin makers. Most of his violins since the mid-1990s have been based on the work of Storioni, but this instrument, made in 2006, fo...

These well-finished, silver-mounted, Chinese violin bows are marketed under the Schumann brand, although the sticks themselves are not stamped. The workmanship is very clean, and the pearl slides are particularly attractive. The sticks, made from ipe wood, a fine-grained alternative to pernambuco, a...

Frederick Chanots life and work exemplifies the cross-fertilisation between French and English violin making in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, in which the Chanot family played a prominent role. Born in London in1857 to a French luthier father, Georges Chanot II, Frederick traine...

W.E. Hill and Sons became the most prestigious violin dealership in the UK from the late nineteenth century through to their closure in 1992. While they are rightly famous for their expertise in authentication, and for the high-quality violins handmade in their own workshops, it is arguably their bo...