Tarisio Blog » Moennig

The Moennig Collection: Photographs

JasonPrice — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 21:03:41 +0000

Those who visited the Moennig shop will remember the hundreds of photographs, drawings and publicity shots of musicians on their walls. This collection includes the all-time greats like Ysaÿe, Casals, Piatigorsky, Primrose, Kreisler, Stern, Heifetz etc. Most were signed and inscribed to the Moennigs. Some highlights:

The Moennig Collection: Scrolls!

JasonPrice — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 00:23:27 +0000

Every violin shop keeps a graveyard of spare parts and pieces–scrolls, tops, frogs etc–that someday, hopefully, will come in useful. On the fourth day of cataloging the Moennig firm we came across their spare parts box of scrolls. Judging from the condition of the box and the glaze of dust on its lid, it appears the box had stood undisturbed for quite some time. Inside were roughly 60 scrolls for violin, viola and cello. We’ve cataloged half of these as separate lots–those that are plausibly by knowable makers; the rest will be sold as one large lot. Following is a sampling, without attribution, of some of the more interesting heads.

Moennig Collection: Bow highlights II

JasonPrice — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 13:29:26 +0000

More bows from the Moennig collection.

The Moennig Collection: Tonewood, fittings and bridge-blanks

JasonPrice — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 00:25:49 +0000

The first day of our 3-day Moennig Collection sale will be devoted to workshop supplies, tonewood and fittings. A rough inventory finds the following:

nearly 2,000 bridge blanks (mostly old-stock German from the 1950-60s)
approximately 200 violin tops (all split and dating from 1940-1970)
some extremely fine maple backs many of which appear to be 80-100 years old
over 200 scroll and neck graft blanks
fittings of all models and styles
thousands of strings (some old but most very usable)

There will be lots of large quantities and lots of small selections: groupings of 500 bridge blanks and selections of 15 bridge blanks. The wood will be viewable in New York and in Boston the weekend of April 24-25.

Bridges

Tonewood

The Moennig Collection: Two Neapolitan viola d’amores

JasonPrice — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 00:25:36 +0000

The Moennig Collection features a number of historical instruments: viola da gambas, inventive violins, hurdy-gurdies, a balalaika and so forth. Among the most interesting of these are two fine Neapolitan viola d’amores, the first by Ferdinand Gagliano, the second by Vincenzo Sannino.

The Ferdinand Gagliano d’Amore is about as pristine as an 18th century instrument can get. The golden brown varnish is nearly undisturbed through most of the instrument; the pegs, fingerboard and tailpiece are almost certainly the original; and the label is pristine and and untouched. The only apparent modification was the replacement of the plate covering the string terminus at the lower block which was done by William Moennig III. This instrument was featured in the 2006 AFVBM exhibit of Neapolitan violinmakers.

The Vincenzo Sannino d’Amore is a fine example of this maker at his most fanciful. The varnish is a vibrant orange red; the head features three separate “scrolls” as the pegbox winds into the volute. The fittings are original and the condition is mint with the exception of an open seam or two.

Announcing the Moennig Collection

JasonPrice — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 00:24:18 +0000

In December 2009 the William Moennig & Son firm in Philadelphia closed its doors after 100 years in business. The firm was one of the finest and oldest American violin shops and built a reputation of service, quality and tradition. Four generations of Moennigs attended to the needs of many of the world’s top musicians and collectors.

In late June Tarisio will sell the contents of the Moennig shop in what promises to be a very exciting sale. We have cataloged over 800 lots of instruments, bows, photographs, books, ephemera and tonewood. A complete news release for the sale can be found here.

The sale will include a little of something for everyone. Among the items to be sold are:

Over 100 fine instruments and bows from the Moennig private collection
Instruments made by five generations of the Moennig family
Photographs of nearly every major musician of the 20^th century, many signed and inscribed
Early 20^th century custom cabinets for storing and displaying violins and bows
A large selection of seasoned tonewood
Vintage fittings and accessories
Seasoned bridge blanks
A Steinway 7-foot model-B grand piano from c. 1925
“New-old-stock” bows and accessories
Scrolls and frogs from important makers
A large collection of unusual and historical instruments
A rare mint condition Ferdinand Gagliano viola d’amore
A fifty-six binder photographic archive of the instruments and bows sold by the firm
Reference materials and books

The Moennig Showroom, c. 1980

The online catalog will be available after March 15th. In the meanwhile, as we finish the cataloging and photography we’ll be posting some of the highlights here on these pages. We hope you enjoy the sale.