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THE STAR OF THE SPRING AUCTION SEASON IN LONDON, offered by Sotheby’s, came in the form of a private collection, and it was one that offered a series of valuable lessons. The collection was that of Albert W. Cooper (1913–2007), a dealer and restorer whose workshop, tucked away in the countryside outside Winchester, was one of the British fiddle trade’s best-kept secrets. When Cooper entered the trade in the early 1950s, worldwide demand for stringed instruments was very weak. Since prices were negligible, he could practice an old tradition among dealers and collectors: buy two, sell one. In this way he acquired a vast assortment of instruments and bows, items that in those days were neither appreciated nor cherished, and thus assembled an outstanding study collection.
The Cooper Collection items fetched a combined total of £1,715,850.
There are other collections, amassed in similar ways, but not many can compare with Cooper’s in breadth, depth, and quality. This was particularly evident in the matter of bows. Browsing the catalog, you could find most every significant maker, and many of the lesser ones, represented by as many as half a dozen works each. The viewer could see at least four or five bows each by French masters Fetique, Lamy, Sartory, Thomassin, Vigneron, Voirin, and the Peccatte family, mostly in fine and healthy condition.
Among the English bows (perennial bridesmaids to the French) contained in the Cooper collection, one could practically trace the history of bow making in Britain. Cooper had, in quantity, bows by generations of the Dodd family and Tubbs family, who carried on the Dodds’ work. Not only were there bows by John Dodd (1752–1839), “the English Tourte,” but bows by his father Edward (1705–1810, and this is not a misprint) nephews James (1792–1865) and Edward II (1798–1851), being all told in excess of 18 bows for all instruments.
There were not just bows by the great English master James Tubbs (1835–1921), represented by 20 mostly exquisite works, but also by his father William (1814–1878) who worked for Edward Dodd and took up his business after Dodd’s death in 1851, his grandfather Thomas (1790–1863), and other members of his family. All told, adding another ten bows.
There seemed to be a W.E. Hill and Sons bow made by practically every one of the 20-odd bow makers who ever worked for them, including François Nicolas Voirin, as confirmed by lot 49, stamped both F.N. Voirin à Paris and W.E. Hill on the handle (which sold at a several times its estimate, no doubt to a collector in search of an extreme rarity). Many of the Hill makers’ identities were only revealed in the past 30 years.
To have so many examples of each, side by side, offers collectors, dealers, and bow makers an incomparable learning experience, the subtleties of style and method amplified and made obvious by their repetition.
Collectors like Cooper do us all an invaluable service by cherishing these items when we lack the vision, thus preserving our heritage. The beneficiaries are modern bow makers, who see clean, fresh, natural articles, free of wear and tear and the accumulated goo of 20th-century preservative techniques. They can thus learn the methods and concepts of their ancestors. And players have an opportunity to acquire fine, healthy, spirited bows that have not been used to within an inch of their useful lives.
So it is with regret that your correspondent sees this collection broken up. The era of excess supply and inadequate demand is only a memory now, and prices have reached levels that place such collecting out of reach for most dealers, who face a perpetual struggle just to find sufficient collections to satisfy their own clientele.
No doubt the eventual sale of this collection was in Cooper’s mind when he published three volumes of The Cooper Collection, thus spreading the security blanket of proof and provenance that buyers so love over everything he owned. In the process, Cooper helped to inflate their eventual prices—all for a worthy cause: proceeds from sale will establish the endowment of the Albert Cooper Music Charitable Trust, which will provide assistance to young musicians for many years to come.
In viewing the collection over several days, it was impossible not to notice that the same dozen or so bows were being played by musicians in search of fine equipage. Their exploratory efforts maintained the constant cacophony of a half-dozen different concerti being played simultaneously. Those were also the bows whose hammer prices didn’t fall in line with the conservative, trade-oriented estimates.
The ultimate selling price of one Dominique Peccatte violin bow, which must have been the object of affection for two determined musicians, rose well into the retail range. Estimated at £12,000–£18,000, it reached £50,900, including buyer’s premium.
—PHILIP J. KASS |
