Investment in stringed instruments can be a worthwhile and potentially advantageous endeavour. Whether it is a syndicate pooling resources to provide a fine Cremonese violin to an international soloist, or a young freelance musician investing in their first ‘serious’ instrument. The auction houses rely on both the trade and the private individual looking for instruments that can satisfy both their musical aspirations and their bank balances, while the dealers are ever grateful for the steady stream of students, professionals, and international stars that cross their thresholds.
This is the way the string world has operated for the last few hundred years. Buy a fiddle in your twenties and come retirement it will have almost certainly paid dividends on your initial investment. To what extent depends on the instrument, an eighteenth century Italian violin of quality bought for £10,000 in 1975 could expect to fetch between £150,000-£200,000 today. The same can be said of bows, arguably more so given the increasing rarity of good quality pernambuco, a type of Brazilian wood noted for its strength and flexibility.
In the nineteenth century the Italian dealer Tarisio made a name for himself by amassing one of the finest collections of stringed instruments in the world, chief among them was the famous ‘Messiah’ Stradivarius violin which now resides in the Ashmolean museum in Oxford. His endeavours were not only financial aggrandisement, though he was clearly a successful businessman. He possessed what many avid collectors of fine art, antiques and instruments share- a burning passion for the finest examples of their chosen profession.
This is the way the string world has operated for the last few hundred years. Buy a fiddle in your twenties and come retirement it will have almost certainly paid dividends on your initial investment. To what extent depends on the instrument, an eighteenth century Italian violin of quality bought for £10,000 in 1975 could expect to fetch between £150,000-£200,000 today. The same can be said of bows, arguably more so given the increasing rarity of good quality pernambuco, a type of Brazilian wood noted for its strength and flexibility.
In the nineteenth century the Italian dealer Tarisio made a name for himself by amassing one of the finest collections of stringed instruments in the world, chief among them was the famous ‘Messiah’ Stradivarius violin which now resides in the Ashmolean museum in Oxford. His endeavours were not only financial aggrandisement, though he was clearly a successful businessman. He possessed what many avid collectors of fine art, antiques and instruments share- a burning passion for the finest examples of their chosen profession.
In the current uncertain financial climate more and more of us are looking to keep our hard earned cash in the safest place we can find. Recent economic events have proved that savings accounts cannot be always relied upon, and investment in property is not as concrete as it used to be. The super rich have long been buying up old master paintings and the value of modern art seems to be on a comfortable ascent following the sale of Picasso’s ‘Nude’ for £68m in New York in 2010. It seems only natural then that the savvy investor should start looking into the hitherto uncharted territory of stringed instruments. Over the years the odd sale of a Stradivari for £1m or so has featured on the back pages of the arts supplements but rarely has there been any real attention from the media. But in recent months numerous articles have highlighted the merits of investment into fine Italian violins.
As a professional violinist myself I am only too aware of the cost and difficulty in finding the perfect instrument. Violins, unlike paintings, are more than simply beautiful things to look at, they are a musician’s tools. An orchestral musician’s salary could never stretch to the cost of a fine Italian violin, meaning the only route to ownership is a crippling loan, or a chance find in a deceased relative’s attic. Add to this the cost of buying a house and the thought of acquiring a fine old instrument becomes just a pipedream.
One possible consequence of bringing the investment potential of the string world into the public is the possibility of ‘wanabe’ collectors buying up instruments left right and centre hoping to make a quick profit. The dangers of creating an artificial bubble in the instrument market may open up the likelihood of fluctuating values on a much greater scale, potentially forcing the musicians out of the picture altogether. The beneficiaries of an artificially inflated instrument market would be the contemporary violin and bow makers. While the celebrated old Italian makers still command the highest prices it stands to reason that a market wide increase in value would benefit the lower end of the spectrum as well. Though if the number of working musicians investing in ‘mid-price’ instruments were to diminish having been priced out by new investors, and instead being forced to look toward ‘cheaper’ instruments, then any change in fashion toward the more expensive examples would cause fluctuations across the entire instrument world potentially causing a crash in values which has as yet not been experienced in the musical arm of the antiques world.
I can understand the desire for the investor to search for greener grass, and the stringed instrument world, if approached with knowledge and consideration, is potentially ripe pickings, though I can’t help but feel that in this case the short term fix could be detrimental to the long term security.
I can understand the desire for the investor to search for greener grass, and the stringed instrument world, if approached with knowledge and consideration, is potentially ripe pickings, though I can’t help but feel that in this case the short term fix could be detrimental to the long term security.
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