Giovanni Grancino cello of c. 1695
Albert Cooper (photo by David Cousins)
In April 2013 Tarisio set a new world record of $520,000 for a cello by Giovanni Grancino, formerly of the Cooper collection. Albert Cooper was one of the great British collector–dealers of the 20th century, and this Milanese cello was one of his finest instruments. After his retirement he consolidated the collection and published a two-volume catalogue in 1996. Many of the greatest instruments, including this cello, were sold privately in recent years, while others were bequeathed to the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. This cello was made around 1695 and features the lustrous reddish-brown varnish typical of Grancino’s work until he substituted it for a harder yellow-brown varnish.
