Rare violins and Dr Who art go for a song (From Crewe Guardian)

Rare violins and Dr Who art go for a song

4:08pm Thursday 13th September 2012 in News By Matthew Taylor

MUSICAL instruments played by a cruise ship musician in the sixties struck a chord with buyers at a Nantwich auctioneers.

Two important violins and three saxophones featured alongside original Dr Who artwork at Peter Wilson fine art auctioneers on September 6.

Owned by a Manchester based musician, the violins had not been used for several years, and were brought to the auctioneers wrapped in newspaper with headlines about the Vietnam War.

The most valuable violin had a label dated 1956; made by Neapolitan maker Vittorio Bellarosa, born in 1907.

It sold for £14,500 against an estimate of £ 4,000 – believed to be the record price paid for a Bellarosa violin.

Another violin by Manchester maker Thomas Earle Hesketh (1866-1945) sold for £3,800, to the same buyer who paid £9,400 for bow made by the important Paris maker, Eugène Sartory (1871-1946).

The saxophones came from the C.G. Conn factory in Elkhart, Indiana; all three purchased by the same Lancashire buyer.

Most valuable was a tenor ‘Aristocrat’ instrument by Ferdinand ‘Gus’ Buescher, who was foreman at the factory, working there from 1895-1906. It sold for £800 against an estimate of £80-120.

Elsewhere, there was excitement when nine telephone bidders competed with buyers in the room for a rare Turkish shamshir - a curved sabre first seen in Persia. It sold to a private buyer for £19,000.

Also, a collection of original Dr Who pen and ink Marvel magazine artwork by John Ridgway sold for £420.

The 11 story boards dating 1984-1988 were found in a house clearance in Crewe. They were snapped up by a Staffordshire collector.

Entries are now invited for Peter Wilson’s next sale on November 7-8, and weekly Gallery Sales held every Thursday.

For further information, contact 01270 623878 or auctions@peterwilson.co.uk