Giovanni Virzi

Auction price history

Highest auction price

£2,850

Type	Details	Sold	Price
Violin	35.6 cm New York, 1941	December 2010	£2,850
Violin	36.0 cm N.Y., 1926, with patented bassbar doohickey	February 2010	£654
Violin	35.8 cm [Made for]	May 2007	£979
Violin	36.0 cm With the internal Virzi patented bass bar device	February 2006	£994
Violin	1924	October 2005	£2,376
Violin	1925	June 2002	£528
Violin	1927	November 1993	£223
Violin	1922	August 1993	£1,012

Biographies

John Dilworth

VIRZI, Giovanni Born 1886 Palermo, Sicily Italy, died 1970 New York USA. Son and pupil of Rosario Virzi. Emigrated to the USA 1912. Worked in New York with brother Joseph Virzi, below, from 1913. Established on his own 1934. Stradivari, Guarneri, and Amati models. Own golden-orange oil varnish. Over 80 violins and a few violas and cellos completed. Seven different grades offered, the best quality labelled as ‘Virzi Art Model’, the cheaper instruments probably imported ‘trade’ work. Patented the ‘Virzi Tone Producer’ (1922) – a plate fitted to the bass bar of all his subsequent instruments. Diploma awarded at the Rome exposition in 1925.