Auction Report January 2026: Lights in the darkness

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While auction houses might try to put a brave face on it, it appears that our national and global economic worries continue to be reflected in the October sales results. Viewings were busy and passionate, but bidding was sparse and concentrated against key objects of desire. Casualties were particularly high among six-figure and high five-figure lots. Ingles & Hayday (I&H) scraped £2 million in total sales, with only 54.5 per cent of lots sold. Post after-sale, Tarisio sold 78.3 per cent – not bad but still comparatively low for them, with their two top lots left on the shelf. Other houses don’t declare results, but scanning webpages as auctions closed evidenced a similar pattern.

On the bright side Gardiner Houlgate returned to London once again, providing a viewing in the same St James venue as I&H and Bromptons, while Amati (with frequent auctions, but no listing of results) has made a definitive move into London with handsome new facilities beside the Langham Hotel at 10A Chandos Street.

The season’s official top lot was a remarkable 1783 Gennaro Gagliano violin at I&H: original neck, original label, excellent condition. It was being sold by a player in the US and was backed up by multiple certificates: Rembert Wurlitzer, Jacques Francais and Bein & Fushi. It went within estimate for £216,000. Bromptons sold a very well-preserved 1781 Nicolò Gagliano (estimate £180,000–£250,000) with an 1891 Hill certificate for an undisclosed figure.

Violins by Ansaldo Poggi broke into the six-figure bracket about ten years ago. This season Tarisio sold a 1930 Poggi violin with dendro indicating curated wood (1832–34) for above top estimate at £192,000.

I&H sold a highly interesting golden-age Italian by Antonio & Girolamo Amati of 1614. This instrument, with a US seller, has undoubtedly had quite a life, evidence of this being a careful ink inscription on the back of ‘M. De St.Anne 1766 Mousq. Noire’. The last element of this inscription undoubtedly implies that this owner was a member of ‘the Black Musketeers’, an elite element of the King of France’s military household (there also being ‘Grey Musketeers’). How rarely we get such insights to the owners of such instruments across their long careers! It sold for £90,000.

A common denominator this season was a positive cavalcade of Sartory bows, most selling at or above top estimate, normally in the neighbourhood of £20k+. I&H led the way, selling six, the most notable being a c.1910 silver-mounted violin bow, which went above estimate for £24,000. Not to be outdone, Tarisio sold three Sartory bows, including a c.1935 cello bow with its original tinsel lapping, which almost doubled its estimate at £39,000. Finally, Bromptons was also in the hunt selling two Sartory violin bows, each going for £22,420.

Tarisio also offered a couple of bow rarities, one of these being an experimental c.1890 Nicolas Bazin folding bow stick, with a simple but ingenious device for coupling and decoupling the stick situated just above the lapping. It was an idea ahead of its time, as one can clearly see the utility of this feature in the epoch of budget airlines. It quadrupled its top estimate for £13,200. Also on the block was a c.1972 Henryk Kaston violin bow. For those not familiar with Kaston, in addition to being a first-rate American archetier, he was a master of bow bling. This particular example was a gold, tortoiseshell and green rhinestone mounted violin bow with a result that is either gorgeous or a bit loud, depending on your predisposition. It went above estimate at £12,980.

Gardiner Houlgate brought 177 lots to London, including a wide range of bows of some quality. The most remarkable of these was a fine silver-mounted, ebony-faced Dodd violin bow of Tourte model that went for £10,980. Another early ebony-faced John Dodd, in original condition with ebony frog and adjuster, sold at I&H for £8,400 against an estimate of £1,500–£2,500. Transitional and early modern English bows have long been available at bargain prices, but it should be realised that this is no longer the case.

October, generally speaking, was a good season for violas. As sometimes happens, I&H offered a fine, if small (381mm), 1827–8 Pressenda viola in the March 2025 sale. It did not sell, although it could have been had for around £45,000. Seven months later it was offered again by the same house and the bid was up to £84,000. Timing is everything. I&H also sold a 393mm 1788 Lorenzo Storioni viola for £120,000, and a 401mm c.1930 Giovanni Pistucci viola for £42,000.

Bromptons offered an interesting 398mm viola originally certified as a Lorenzo Carcassi by Jacques Francais. It was then played throughout his career by Bruno Giuranna – founding member of I Musici and the Quartetto di Roma. Reappraisal shows it to have in fact been a Joseph Hill c.1775. It was another example, if one were needed, of an old London instrument punching above its weight! It sold for £24,780.

Meanwhile, in our usual fine Austrian/German instruments exceeding estimate section, we had a very correct and attractive 1815 Franz Geissenhof violin almost doubling its estimate at I&H for £50,400. This appears to be a new auction record for this maker, and it is in line with rising price expectations for the ‘Viennese Stradivari’.

We will close with a couple of unusual lots. Tarisio offered what I would like to describe as ‘The Thomas Kennedy Messiah’. Made in 1831 it was in almost perfect original state with original neck, and probably original boxwood pegs. It was a bargain for someone at £5,100. Finally, demonstrating once more the collector’s keenness for fine violin cases, a wooden Hill coffin case more than tripled its estimate at Tarisio, selling for £1,800.

All sale prices include buyer’s premium