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).
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.
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Each dot is one sale in 2026 dollars. Lines follow each maker's growth rate from the study.
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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.
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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. Collin-Mézin, Charles Jean-Baptiste père (France, 19th century): 278 auction sales from 1908 to 2026 in our data. Median price $8,642, record $34,689 (2023, Tarisio), in 2026 dollars, buyer's premium included. Real price growth since 1975: +0.88% a year (95% margin: ± 0.4 points).
| Date | Auction house | Price paid | In 2026 dollars |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 27, 2026 | Tarisio | $9,659 | $9,659 |
| Oct 27, 2026 | Tarisio | $8,854 | $8,854 |
| Oct 2, 2026 | Tarisio | $10,868 | $10,868 |
| Jun 24, 2026 | Amati | $12,640 | $12,640 |
| Mar 31, 2026 | Ingles & Hayday | $12,001 | $12,001 |
| Mar 31, 2026 | Gardiner Houlgate | $8,947 | $8,947 |
| Mar 13, 2026 | Gardiner Houlgate | $3,904 | $3,904 |
| Mar 6, 2026 | Tarisio | $7,800 | $7,800 |
| Mar 25, 2025 | Ingles & Hayday | $13,944 | $14,251 |
| Mar 1, 2025 | Tennants | $2,835 | $2,898 |
| Dec 5, 2024 | Vichy Enchères | $11,134 | $11,664 |
| Dec 5, 2024 | Vichy Enchères | $12,667 | $13,270 |