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Carcassi, Lorenzo violin prices

Sales 1975–today · N ≥ 10 over ≥ 15 years · OLS log-regression · data v1.18
34 378 Auction Results 3 893 Makers 33 Countries 73 Auction Houses
CarcassiLorenzo
Italy · 18th century · 17 sales 1971–2024
Real growth+1.38%/yr

Price Index

Violin price index

Every sale compared with other sales by the same maker. Base year = 100 (violins 1980, bows 1983; or the first year shown, if later).

Drag the handles to change the start and end years. The index is 100 in the base year (violins 1980, bows 1983), or in the start year if later. All values in constant 2026 dollars (US CPI). Method: within-maker OLS of log price on year (maker fixed effects). Each sale is compared only with sales by the same maker, so a year with many expensive makers does not raise the index. Not a repeat-sales index: the data has no instrument identifier. Prices include buyer's premium as recorded. Years with fewer than 100 sales are omitted. Violins from 1975, with 1980 = 100: 1975-1979 are drawn lighter (fewer sales, a changing mix of auction houses).

Fees

Did the instruments rise, or the fees?

Top: the buyer's premium added to the hammer price. Middle: the seller's fee taken from the hammer, mean of the year's sales. Bottom: the index above, split into hammer price and buyer's fees; dashed: what the seller gets.

Sources of the fee ratesBuyer's premium: Sotheby's / Christie's lower tier (New York Times, via Wikipedia; Antiques Trade Gazette 1999: Phillips and Bonhams also 15 %); 2000–01 assumed 17.5 %. Seller's fee: for each sale, the house's published rate in force (Sotheby's / Christie's general art schedule, 15 %, 10 % from Sept. 1975; in France the state tariff, 7 % + VAT, decree of 29 March 1985, until July 2002, then Vichy's terms, 12 % + VAT; Tarisio's terms, capped; Bongartz's 10 %; Gardiner Houlgate 15 % + 1.5 %; Aguttes' real fees from Nov. 2025), else the average of the published rates of the house's country; the line is the mean of the year's sales, each sale counting once like in the index. Weighted by dollars instead (in the hover), a few very dear violins pull it down: Tarisio's fee stops at $10 000. Fees are often negotiated: these are list rates. The French tax (TFOP, 5 %, 6.5 % from 2014, above €5 000) is not in the line; it is taken off what the seller gets. Hammer: the house's own figure, else the sale's premium measured on its prices (they turn back into round hammers), else the same house's nearest sale. What the seller gets: the hammer less the seller's fee (published rate, else the average of the published rates of the house's country) and the French tax. Same method as the index above, real; the price paid = 100 in the base year. Years with fewer than 30 sales left out; the shaded years have fewer than 100.
Sales Cloud

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Compare Makers

Two makers side by side

Each dot is one sale in 2026 dollars. Lines follow each maker's growth rate from the study.

Maker A
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Rankings

Makers ranked by their auction sales

Every maker with at least 5 auction sales in the data. Click a column title to sort, click it again to reverse the order; click a maker to see each of his sales. Prices in 2026 dollars (adjusted for inflation), buyer's premium included.

All makers A–Z, one page each →

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How to read these figures
Real prices (2026 dollars) real price = price paid × CPI 2026 ÷ CPI of the sale year We use the US consumer price index (CPI-U, Bureau of Labor Statistics; 2026 = 329.1). Example: $100,000 paid in 1980 (CPI 82.4) is worth about $399,000 in 2026 dollars. So every growth rate on this page is growth above inflation. Prices include the buyer's premium as recorded.
How sure is a growth figure (the 4 bars) A maker's growth is the slope of his prices (above inflation) over time, measured on his sales from 1975 on. The more sales, spread over many years and several auction houses, the surer it is. The bars say it at a glance: 4 bars = sure to within ± 1 point a year; 3 = ± 1 to 2 points; 2 = ± 2 to 3; 1 = more than ± 3 points (read it as a trend only). Example: +6 % a year ± 1 point means between +5 and +7 % (95 % chance). Under 10 sales since 1975: no growth figure, no bars.

In short

Carcassi, Lorenzo (Italy, 18th century): 17 auction sales from 1971 to 2024 in our data. Median price $49,311, record $95,534 (2008, Christie's), in 2026 dollars, buyer's premium included. Real price growth since 1975: +1.38% a year (95% margin: ± 2.9 points).

Latest sales

DateAuction housePrice paidIn 2026 dollars
Jun 6, 2024Vichy Enchères$47,071$49,311
Dec 1, 2022Vichy Enchères$26,260$29,530
Nov 2, 2021Ingles & Hayday$72,619$88,198
Oct 6, 2010Brompton's$45,683$68,947
Jun 14, 2010Brompton's$9,211$13,902
Mar 10, 2010Bonhams$21,676$32,714
May 9, 2009Tarisio$40,950$62,817
Oct 10, 2008Christie's$62,500$95,534
Nov 7, 2006Sotheby's$12,619$20,600
Feb 22, 2005Sotheby's$45,290$76,318
Nov 3, 2004Christie's$33,063$57,602
Nov 17, 1999Bonhams$26,105$51,568

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