not one, but two Rogerinis at Brompton's!

[Michael Appleman]

Interesting that lot 202 has a fresh new Beare's certificate, while lot 81 has none at all, yet Brompton's is confident in selling it as "by." Lot 81 does have a conspicuously Rogeri looking head, but otherwise does not have a lot in common with the other "accepted" Rogerinis out there, in terms of outline and size. Very curious to hear if MNers have had contact with either of these violins!

https://www.bromptons.co/auction/4th-18th-march-2019/lots/81-a-fine-italian-violin-by-giovanni-battista-rogeri-brescia-circa-1700.html

https://www.bromptons.co/auction/4th-18th-march-2019/lots/202-the-ex-lvov-lwoff-an-important-italian-violin-by-giovanni-battista-rogeri-brescia-circa-1700.html

[Televet]

and both failed to reach the reserve!

[Michael Appleman]

I deleted my previous post, because I started to think seriously about going for one of these fiddles, and thought it best to keep a low profile. In the end, I've dropped the idea again, like I did a few years ago when I got very interested in a Rogerini which came up at Tarisio. In my mind there is something very special about classical Cremona school violins, and Rogeri, even if he was from Bologna and moved to Brescia after working in Cremona, has to be considered one of the major exponents of this school.

I can't say that I need one of these violins for my performing work. I've pretty much got my playing needs covered with the violins I own, so it's really just a personal fetish/desire sort of thing. Nonetheless, since any decent accepted classical Cremonese violin would be hard to touch for less than 500k these days, I can't escape the notion that these Rogerinis are a bargain, and the few I've been able to play have struck me as being closer to long Strads and certain Del Gesus in sound, than the more typical "Amati-inspired" Rogeris, Ruggieris, Andrea Guarneris, and Amatis I might be able to stretch to afford one day.

The fact that Charles Beare himself has come forward to issue a certificate seems to me to suggest that the idea that Rogeri made "Maggini-inspired" violins is no longer a theory to be debated, as it may have been when only Chris Reuning or Dimitry Gindin were willing to sign certificates of this type. In a few years time, these "untouchable" Rogerinis might be fetching prices more in line with the other "non-Maggini" violins of this school. On the otherhand, they might not since there are only a handful of them (are there more than a half a dozen agreed upon?) and for a violin's value to really grow there has to be some sort of presence on the market.

Sorry if this post seems self-indulgent, but I thought I'd share my musings on a quirky subject. 

[Omobono]

On 3/21/2019 at 6:03 PM, Michael Appleman said:

Sorry if this post seems self-indulgent, but I thought I'd share my musings on a quirky subject. 

Far from it....... fascinating.......  I'm all ears!