Musical Instruments & Memorabilia

Conservation and restoration firm Plowden & Smith has won a new contract to help the University of Edinburgh renovate Scotland’s oldest concert hall.

A musical manuscript at the centre of a row over whether it was handwritten by Ludwig van Beethoven or a copyist has failed to sell at an auction at Sotheby’s.

A violin made from one of Winston Churchill’s cigar boxes was one of the starring lots at Ingles & Hayday October 25 auction.

A limited edition photo of two members of The Beatles and a new signed monograph by the photographer who took it are part of a 107-lot timed charity auction that closes on November 6.

A London-based musician’s equipment, including an antique violin, has been stolen and she is calling on the trade to help her find it.

The Osbourne family have snapped up Black Sabbath memorabilia ahead of a planned auction in Sheffield.

A cello by Giovanni Grancino made in Milan in c.1710 was one of a number of ‘attic finds’ that led Brompton’s latest musical instruments auction.

One of the main attractions at Piano Auctions’ upcoming quarterly auction at the Conway Hall in London on June 23 is this Steinway with celebrity status.

A Steinway grand piano sold for a double-estimate £95,000 on February 24 when Christie’s King Street held a £3m, 146-lot sale of items from the former Queen Anne’s Gate home of musician Sting and his wife Trudie Styler.

Florence’s longstanding Antiques Fair, the ‘Biennale Internationale dell’ Antiquariato di Firenze’, opens next week in the city’s 17th century Palazzo Corsini, running from September 26 to October 4.

Bath auctioneers Gardiner Houlgate (20% buyer’s premium) set a new house record on March 12 with the sale of a guitar by the celebrated French luthier Jean-Baptiste Voboam (1658-after 1731) for £120,000.

“Most of us will never experience space, which explains why space-flown items are in such high demand. Their travels imbue them with an almost mystical aura.”

Only one other major George Frederick Handel (1685-1759) manuscript has come up for auction in the last 40 years, so Stargardt in Berlin can be assured of an international audience for the extensive autograph work they will offer on March 24-25.

The Black Beauty, the prototype for all Gibson Les Paul guitars, will appear at Guernsey Auctions’ February 19 sale in New York.

Selborne, Hampshire, auctioneer Hannams produced a YouTube video to promote the presence of this very early key-wind musical box by Nicole Frères in their inaugural sale.

The Stradivarius violin which was stolen from Euston station in 2010 and recovered earlier this year will be offered at Tarisio auctioneers this month.

The violin played by Titanic bandmaster Wallace Hartley as the ship slid beneath the waves on the morning of April 15, 1912, was always going to a) attract massive worldwide interest and b) bring in the big bucks at auction.

There was a great deal of international interest, particularly from institutions, when this five-course baroque guitar by Matteo Sellas of Venice, from the second quarter of the 17th century, was offered at Gardiner Houlgate’s September 19-20 sale in Bath.

The organiser of a string of burglaries that targeted various auction houses claimed a Klotz violin taken from a saleroom and then discovered at his home had actually been found in a skip.

The inaugural sale held by new London-based musical instrument auctioneers Ingles & Hayday generated a £2.26m total from 150 lots.