Bidder joins select band of guitar owners
THE successful bidder on a handmade guitar, which went under the hammer at Cotswold auction house Moore Allen & Innocent, has joined a select band of owners including Sir Cliff Richard, Keith Richards, Pete Townsend, KT Tunstall and, for reasons not fully explained on the manufacturer’s website, David Beckham and Wayne Rooney.
There was plenty of interest from wannabe guitar heroes on the floor as auctioneer Philip Allwood – himself a string plucker of local repute – introduced Lot 191, a rosewood-backed Fylde Falstaff no 1828 at the general sale on Friday, January 22.
The list price of a new Falstaff is over £2,300, so it was perhaps no surprise that the lot passed its £100 to £150 estimate to achieve the top price of the day, £780. “It was a lovely guitar; I’d have put a bid in myself if it had been struggling, but I could see plenty of guitarists among the dealers and collectors who wanted it,” said Philip after the auction.
Staying on a musical theme, an attractive Victorian burr walnut and inlaid Canterbury with fretwork carved decoration, originally made to store sheet music, but equally as valid as a newspaper or magazine rack, achieved a hammer price of £580.
Among the more unusual lots was a game of solitaire with 38 marbles, each made of a different beautifully polished semi precious stone, including types of calcite, agate, quartz and jasper and individually labeled with its geological classification. The hammer fell within the estimate at £150.
Overall, said Philip, it was a good sale with strong prices over the 520 lots and a sale total better than the corresponding sale in 2009 – the second consecutive sale of the year where this has been the case, suggesting that antiques prices are on the rise and now is an excellent time to sell.
The next sale at Moore Allen & Innocent is the biannual Sporting Sale on Friday, February 5.
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| A rosewood-backed Fylde Falstaff, which achieved £780 |
An attractive Victorian burr walnut
and inlaid Canterbury, which made £580 |
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A game of solitaire with 38 marbles, each made of a different |
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