Fine Violin, Viola, Cello & Bow Valuations

Three things, in roughly this order.

Who made it, and whether we can prove it. An attribution is not the same as a certificate. A violin we believe to be by a maker and a violin that can be shown to be by that maker are different propositions, and the gap between them is measured in money.

Condition. Not whether it looks tidy. Whether it is structurally sound, how much of it is original, and how well any repairs were done. A well-repaired old instrument is a normal thing. A badly repaired one is a discount. A sound post crack on the back of an instrument can reduce it by a large amount. Speaking from experience, I far prefer old, but clean, repairs to badly executed overworked repairs.

Provenance. Who has owned it, who has played it, and what paperwork survives. Most instruments have none of this and it does not count against them. When it exists, it helps. Sometimes we can tell you a bit about what workshops and shops it has passed through over the years. W.E. Hill & Sons and J & A Beare both usually left notes. Although fun when it happens, it doesn’t happen too often.

This is an important point that we have to explain fairly frequently.

An insurance or retail valuation is what it would cost to replace the instrument – to walk into a shop and buy a comparable one. An auction valuation is what a room of buyers is likely to pay on the day. The second figure is almost always the lower of the two, and that is not a sign that anybody is short-changing you. The two different valuations are answers to two, very different questions.

If you need a figure for insurance, say so and we will tell you which sort of valuation you actually want. Sometimes it is not ours.

We have been recording what stringed instruments actually sell for since long before it was easy to look such things up. The Amati Archive holds over 40,000 auction results and is updated quarterly. It also holds around 14,000 makers.

That matters for a valuation because it means we are not guessing from memory. When we tell you what your instrument might make, we can show you what comparable instruments have made, when, and in what condition.

It is also why we are relaxed about doing this for nothing.

Although we would love to, we genuinely can’t. It is the thing everybody wants and without enough information the possibility of misleading is too great.

Photographs are enough to tell you whether something is worth a proper look, and they are often enough to rule things out – which saves everybody a journey. They are not enough to tell the difference between an instrument worth four figures and the same instrument, in better condition, worth five.

So send photographs by all means, and we will tell you what we can. If it warrants seeing in person we will say so, and we will find a way to see it.

Online. Send photographs and a description. We will come back to you with a range, or with an honest “we need to see this.”

At a valuation day. Although we are based in London, we travel constantly, throughout the world. Appointments tend to last within a fifteen-minute block, although it really does depend on what the instrument is, and how many you bring.

At Furlong House. Our London offices, by arrangement, for anything that warrants it. We also do home visits where the instrument cannot easily travel.

All three are free. There is never any obligation to sell, and a good number of the people we see never do – they simply wanted to know.

Most people arrive at a valuation with the same handful of questions. These are the ones we are asked most often.

• How much is my violin worth?
• Who made my violin?
• Is my violin made by Stradivarius?
• Where can I get a violin valuation?
• Violin valuation near me?
• What happens at a valuation day?
• Why do we value instruments for free?