Sergio Peresson

Violin maker
(1913 – 1991)

Sergio Peresson's path into lutherie was anything but conventional — born in Udine, Italy, in 1913, he started out as a professional footballer, not a craftsman, and didn't make his first instrument until 1943. In 1947 he moved to Caracas, Venezuela, where he worked as the Venezuelan Symphony Orchestra's own repairman, though he built few instruments during these years. He relocated to Philadelphia ...Read More in 1963 and spent the following eight years working as a repairer and maker for William Moennig, before opening his own shop in Haddonfield, New Jersey, in 1971.

He built to his own model, based on a Guarneri pattern, finished in a somewhat brittle spirit varnish of his own recipe, shaded rather than flat. His workmanship through the 1960s was genuinely fine; as demand grew through the 1970s, however, he increasingly relied on pre-carved parts, and the resulting instruments were less artistically distinguished than his earlier work. Even so, he built several hundred instruments over his career. He died in 1991. Read Less

Price History

- The auction record for this maker is $72,000 in Nov 2011, for a viola.
- 40 auction price results.

View all auction prices for Sergio Peresson

FULL SIZE