Instrument

Iconography Index

Order Black-and-white photos (front, back & scroll - dated 1770c): Meister Italienischer Geigenbaukunst (8th Edition), Walter Hamma, Florian Noetzel Verlag, Wilhelmshaven, 1993.

Color photos (front & back - dated 1742): Evelyn & Herbert Axelrod Stringed Instrument Collection, Herbert Axelrod, 2002.

Notes

"Expert X questioned whether it was Italian and valued at $50,000 to $60,000. . . . Crane believed it more from Florence rather than Mantua. 'Obscure.' No value given."

"New Jersey Symphony Orchestra Report of the Trustee Review Panel concerning the Golden Age Collection, December 16, 2004".

". . . and a 1742 Tomasso Balestrieri cello, valued at $950,000. Rosengard said he was not familiar enough with the details of Balestrieri's work to comment. Bein and Beare say they have seen the cello in their shops, and both called it an English instrument."

"False Notes", Mark Mueller, The Star Ledger, August 1, 2004.

"Robert Bein reportedly suggested that this instrument may be the work of Walter Mayson, an English violin maker active in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. However, discoloration under the present fingerboard indicates that this instrument was once fitted with a much shorter (ca. 52 cm) fingerboard, such as those used around the mid-eighteenth century. The use of a short fingerboard is consistent with the date found on the facsimile label now in this instrument and rules out the possibility that Walter Mayson made it. Further signs of age include multiple bushings in the pegbox, a neck graft, and further resetting of the grafted neck at the neck foot. This instrument is pictured in Walter Hamma’s Meister italienischer Geigenbaukunst (8th edition) as an exemplar of Tomasso Balestrieri’s work."

New Jersey Symphony Orchestra Collection brochure from Violin Advisor, LLC, April, 2007.

Provenance

Owner	Owned From	Owned In	Owned Till	Price paid
Group of investors led by Brook & Seth Taube	2007
New Jersey Symphony Orchestra	2003		2007
Dr. Herbert Axelrod			2003
...

 Current owner
 Indicates that the owner is or was also a musician

Players

Name	Played From	Played In	Played To
Jason Lippmann		2003
...

 Current player
 Indicates that the musician is or was also an owner of one or more instruments

Certificates

Certificate: Hamma & Co., Stuttgart, May 2, 1988

Insurance appraisal: Machold Rare Violins, June 26, 2002. Values the instrument at $950,000.

Certificate: Machold Rare Violins, June 24, 2002. "… this violoncello is a characteristic xample of the maker’s work and is in a good state of preservation.”