Musical Instruments & Memorabilia
The craftsmanship involved in the most prized musical instruments affects the quality of sound they produce as well as their appearance. For example, string instruments made by the Italian Stradivari family – and particularly Antonio Stradivari – in the 17th and 18th centuries are said to produce a sound that has never been replicated even in similar designs.
Those instruments created by Antonio during his ‘golden period’ (1700-1720) command particularly strong prices. More recent instruments, such as electric guitars played by pop music giants of the 20th century also pull in large prices – such as Jimi Hendrix’s Woodstock Stratocaster, which was bought for a Seattle museum for $2m.

Galway silver shines in Lewes auction
19 April 2021The West as well as the East made a major contribution to the success of Gorringe’s £1m sale on March 30 where, overall, 86% of the 593 lots sold.

Model 1080 could be a sound investment
12 April 2021In 1935, Swiss designer Paul Fuller, who had emigrated to the US after the First World War, joined the Rudolf Wurlitzer Company as their chief designer.

Collection Focus: Living and laughing out loud
22 March 2021Collector’s daughter describes what it was like to grow up amid huge musical machines

Wurlitzer steams into action
15 March 2021Mechanical music will be going under the hammer on March 20 as part of the Miller & Miller auction in New Hamburg, Ontario.

British musical Leppard spotted in Indiana
15 March 2021Though a Bösendorfer grand piano topped bidding at $42,500 (£31,250) in a January 16 sale, the main attractions for many came from a different source.

Howzat for an intriguing portrait
15 March 2021Young cricket player stars among the varied lots from estate of journalist and author

Some buys have all the pluck
01 March 2021Lacking the glitter of a former rock star owner, this Fender Stratocaster sold on the traditional antiques virtues of quality, age and condition.

Debut three-day sale graced by an aristocratic selection
21 December 2020In playing condition but with enough problems to be catalogued as ‘sold as seen’, a Nicole Frères brass inlaid music box was one of the unexpected stars of the first three-day sale to be held at Ripon auction house Elstob & Elstob (22% buyer’s premium).

Elvis Presley’s 18ct Corum Buckingham watch to be offered at Sworders this month
02 November 2020A watch worn many times by the king of rock and roll at the peak of his career comes for sale at Sworders this month.

Rare first pressing of The Who’s ‘My Generation’ album signed by band members sells at seven-times estimate at auction
20 October 2020A rare first pressing of The Who’s My Generation album has sold at seven-times its top estimate at auction in Hertfordshire.

Gramophone bought by the Rothschild family for Waddesdon Manor comes to auction
14 October 2020A rare gramophone believed to have been bought by James de Rothschild (1878-1957) of the Rothschild banking dynasty, for the family home of Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire, is coming to auction next week.

Unreleased vinyl of a demo recording by David Bowie comes to auction
22 July 2020Wessex Auction Rooms in Chippenham is offering a 1966 demo recording by David Bowie on an acetate disc.

Flog It! presenter and dealer Paul Martin teams up with auction house for NHS charity auction
13 June 2020Former Flog It! presenter and dealer Paul Martin and auction house Dawsons have launched an auction to raise funds for NHS charities.

Rare phonograph ready to play in Cologne sale
08 June 2020The Parisian clockmaker Henri Lioret (1848-1938) entered the market for ‘talking machines’ in an unconventional fashion – his first patented device of 1893 was a talking doll.

Export-blocked 18th century harpsichord bought by Gainsborough’s House museum
20 May 2020A harpsichord that was sold at The Canterbury Auction Galleries in 2018 to a US buyer and later barred from export by the government has been saved for the nation by Gainsborough’s House museum.

Pick of the week: Into battle armed with bagpipes
18 May 2020As the Scottish regiments went over the top on July 1, 1916 – the fateful First Day of the Somme – they were led into battle by the wail of bagpipes.

Vendor not so sad about this price
20 April 2020On April 10, 1970, a Paul McCartney ‘self-interview’ ahead of the release of his debut solo album had been taken by the media to be an announcement that the band was no more.

Pick of the week: Beatlemania: poster sets auction record
13 April 2020For their first appearance at the 55,000-seater Shea Stadium in Queens, New York, in 1965, The Beatles needed no promotion. At the height of Beatlemania in the US, the venue sold out in minutes.

Fab Four in ‘ballroom of the stars’
06 April 2020One of the highlights of actor Peter Wyngarde’s estate sale held live, online-only at East Bristol Auctions (18% buyer’s premium) was a Beatles concert poster from 1963.

Pick of the week: Rare The Who poster – once in a Blue Moon chance for collectors
23 March 2020The Blue Moon, a club above Burton’s on Cheltenham High Street, existed for less than two years from July 1965 to May 1967, but in that time the compact 250-capacity venue with a tiny stage hosted Elton John, David Bowie, Eric Clapton, Fleetwood Mac, The Yardbirds and (on February 11, 1967) Jimi Hendrix.

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