Antonio Stradivari (Cremona, b c1644; d 1737) A violin Cremona, 1716

Provenance

Sold in these rooms on 1st May 1964.

In 1897 Hart records that the violin was in the possession of a Mr. Eduard Kuchner, from whom it presumably passed directly to Nachez, as in 1930 Beare notes that the violin 'was for about 30 years the property of and solo violin of the well-known violinist Tivadar Nachez'. 

Nachez was Hungarian born and studied for three years with Joseph Joachim in Berlin.  In 1889 he settled in London, where he gained a fine reputation as a soloist.  In addition to his achievements as a violinist, he composed a number of pieces for the violin, many of which were based on Hungarian folk tunes.  Perhaps the best known of these is his Gypsy Dance, Op. 14.  He also published a string quartet and a violin concerto and edited many of the great classical works for violin.

The violin was acquired from Beares by a Miss Aline Hay, who retained possession until 1964, when she sold it through Sotheby's for £8,000. In 1967 it was bought by Baroness Frieda von Usslar (b1897; d1975), a German philanthropist who was the daughter of the founder of the the Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten in Hamburg. The violin has remained in the possession of her family ever since, and the sale will benefit a charity providing musical instruments for the children of an industrial town in Germany.

Certificates

John & Arthur Beare, London, dated 8th November 1930, describing the violin as 'a magnificent example of this celebrated maker's best work'

Hart & Son, London, dated 23rd April 1897

Dollin & Sadler, London, dated 1st January 1967

Dendrochronology

The tree-ring analysis report of John Topham, Redhill, dated 7th October 2002, which gives dates of 1698 and 1703 for the youngest rings on the bass and treble sides respectively. Topham further notes that the treble side matches both sides of the Maurin Stradivari of 1718 closely enough to suggest that the pieces come from the same tree.