Lord Harris: from luthier to lord and back again

Helen Wright

- 26 June 2023

The violin making world is full of fascinating characters: often researching a maker turns into an enormously detailed dive into social history! Charles Harris of Oxford stands out as one of the great examples of a maker whose life story wouldn’t be out of place in a historical novel.

Daniel Parker and his influence

Tim Wright

- 22 April 2021

For many aficionados of violins, the instruments of the early London maker Daniel Parker are like the holy grail: rare, precious and mysterious. To understand why, one must delve into who Parker was, where he lived, and those with whom he worked.

A Question of Origin

Tim Wright

- 28 December 2016

How does one determine the nationality of an instrument? Should it be the origin of the maker, the style/construction method, or where the instrument was actually made? Of course the question all too often is ‘can we call this Italian?’. In the case of this 1849 Charles Boullangier violin, however, the answer is somewhat complex...