Thomas Dodd I
Bow maker / Violin maker
(1764 – 1834)
Younger brother of John Dodd, Thomas Dodd began working as a bowmaker around 1784 but by 1794 had switched to making and dealing in violins. In the early years he employed Bernhard Simon Fendt I and John Frederick Lott I, both of whom were responsible for the great number of excellent cellos and double basses the shop produced. Fendt left to work for Dodd's competitor John Betts in 1809, but Lott stayed on until around 1820. Like Betts, Dodd profited enormously from the burgeoning trade in old Italian instruments, sometimes in a creative and nefarious fashion. To avoid trade duties, instruments were sometimes imported in pieces and then recombined with newly made parts from the Dodd workshop, the bizarre composite works then covered with Dodd's signature orange-red varnish.
Around 1820 the business expanded to include newly-fashionable keyboard instruments, which may have been an overextension for Dodd and his sons Thomas II and Edward II. The shop continued to produce violins, but generally declined through the 1820s. Dodd's brother John presumably made bows for the shop, as did Thomas Tubbs, whose work also bears the Dodd brand.
Price History
- The auction record for this maker is $80,500 in Oct 2010, for a cello.
- 56 auction price results.
View all auction prices for Thomas Dodd I
Dodd family tree
