Long legal wrangle over valuable violin

Press, 14 May 1981, Page 1

Long legal wrangle over valuable violin

Nelson reporter A violin bequeathed to the Nelson School of Music in 1919, and since discovered to be extremely valuable, • will be the subject of a high court application at Nelson during the next session beginning on June 15. The violin is a Testore, identified by a London firm of experts as having been made by Carlo Giuseppe Testore about 1708. Carlo Testore was one of a family of seven Italian string instrument-makers, most of whom worked in Milan. According to the

authoritative work, “Universal Dictionary of Violin and Bow Makers,” by William Henley, Carlo Testore lived from 1660 to 1738. The violin was owned by Miss Phyllis Fell, who once taught the violin at the school. Upon her death, Her violin was bequeathed for use by school pupils. The school’s registrar, Mr G. Cole, said yesterday that the violin was used constantly by pupils until about four years ago, “When somebody decided to look inside and see who the maker was.” The label

identified the maker, and it was obvious that the instrument might be quite valuable. It was sent to the prominent London firm of violin dealers and repairers, John and Arthur Beare, which confirmed that it was extremely valuable, but that it would also cost some £l5OO to £l6OO to repair and restore.

Because it was felt that such a valuable instrument could no longer be used by pupils for lessons, the school directors began protracted legal ne-

gotiations to permit the terms of the trust to be varied to allow the sale of the instrument. They proposed that the money received would be used _to buy one violin of high quality, suitable for pupils of National Youth Orchestra or grade 8 standard, and three violins of intermediate standard to be available for use without charge by students of the school. Repairs to the instrument would also be met from the proceeds of the sale.

Any surplus funds, it is proposed, would be in-

vested, and the income applied to increasing the number of scholarships for violin study at the school and to subsidise the. school’s violin tuition fees. Negotiations were begun . four years ago. The variation of the trust involved, firstly, an application to the Crown Law Office. Its approval was sent on to the SolicitorGeneral, and his approval will now be put to the High Court at Nelson next month. . Mr Cole was unwilling to disclose the initial valuation of the instrument—it was merely a “guessti-

mate,” he said — but he did confirm that it was “very valuable,” far too good for its original purpose. The instrument is m London, and no known photographs of it are in Nelson. An instrument valuer and repairer from Palmerston North, Mr T. Warren, said last evening that the value of the violin would depend on which of the Testore family it belonged to. However, Testore violins sold between SUS2O,OOO and $28,000 in America last year,