WEBVTT

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GUEST: I was taking lessons when
I was a student in high school.
My parents talked to my music

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teacher, who had been in Italy,
and he mentioned a place in
Bologna, possibly knew of Poggi,
the

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manufacturer, the maker of it.
And fortunately, my grandfather
was on a trip to Italy,

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and took a detour to Bologna
to meet up with the, the maker.

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APPRAISER: What did
he pay for it?

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GUEST: The number that comes
to mind as a kid was $600.

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APPRAISER: Yeah.

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GUEST: This instrument then
became my instrument all through
high school and college.

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APPRAISER: And what do you
know about the maker? I mean,

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your grandfather went directly
to the maker in Bologna.

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GUEST: Yeah. APPRAISER:
This is almost unheard of.

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GUEST: Really, really-- I don't
know. I know he's prolific. I
know

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he has certain renown. When I
mention Poggi to other
violinists, they smile.

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APPRAISER (chuckles)
GUEST: That's about it.

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APPRAISER: Well, you know that
the label says "Ansaldo Poggi in
Bologna 1967."

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GUEST: Yes, yes.

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APPRAISER: And so that date
jives with your grandfather's
trip to, to Italy.

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GUEST: Right. Exactly.

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APPRAISER: Ansaldo Poggi is one
of the most important of the
20th-century Italian makers.

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GUEST (laughs): Jeez.

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APPRAISER: He was a Stradivari
enthusiast and he studied with a
man, Giuseppe Fiorini,

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who bought all the tools and the
remnants of the Stradivari
workshop,

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and gave them to the city of
Stradivari, which was Cremona,
Italy.

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GUEST: Yeah, right.

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APPRAISER: And so he studied
with this man, Fiorini, who was
one of the great,

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great makers. And you can see
the influence of Stradivari
through his entire career. Now,

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Poggi is known to be a very,
very precise maker. He was a
fanatic about the precision

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of his craftsmanship, and he was
a fanatic about only choosing
beautiful, beautiful wood.

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But because there aren't many
marks on his instruments, he's
copied a lot.

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GUEST: Hm.

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APPRAISER: So my job is to make
sure that the instrument is what
it's supposed to be.

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You can see that the spruce on
the top of the viola is very
straight, regular grain, right?

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GUEST: Sure. APPRAISER:
The back is a beautiful,

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beautiful flamed maple, and the
flames go all the way out to the
edge.

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GUEST: Mm-hmm. APPRAISER: And
it's a magnificent piece of
wood.

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GUEST: Yes, it is.

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APPRAISER: And he used that same
wood in the peg box and the
scroll of the viola.

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GUEST: Yeah, interesting.

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APPRAISER: So it's, it's a
handsome, very unified look. The
other thing that makes

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me more comfortable with your
viola is, it's got real wear on
it. I can see that it's been
played.

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GUEST: Yes, yeah.

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APPRAISER: It's an
appropriate amount of wear.

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GUEST: Cool.

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APPRAISER: The other thing is
that the label is absolutely
correct for this

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period of time. So he had a
series of labels throughout his
career.

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GUEST: Yeah.

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APPRAISER: Ansaldo Poggi was
born in 1893, and he started
studying with Fiorini in the
1920s.

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GUEST: Wow. APPRAISER:
And he lived until 1984.

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GUEST (chuckling): Oh, jeez.

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APPRAISER: And this is the level
of perfectionist that he was. So
in the 1950s,

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he started getting really,
really popular, and there was
some demand

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for his work. He started buying
back his earlier works and then
rebuilding them

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according to the acoustical
principles that he had learned
in the meantime.

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GUEST: Okay. APPRAISER: And
he even destroyed some.

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GUEST: Jeez, that's
unbelievable.

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APPRAISER: So we have a friend
in Minneapolis, he was associate
principal violist in the

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Minnesota Orchestra, and he, he
was Italian, and he, he
commissioned, uh, in the late
'60s

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a viola from Ansaldo Poggi. But
he didn't like the way it
sounded. So he went back to
Italy,

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and he showed it to Poggi, and
he said, "Can't we do something?
I'm, I'm not happy with the way

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this sounds." And Poggi said, "I
don't like it, either." And he
threw it in the fire.

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(both laughing) APPRAISER: "I'll
make you another," he said.

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(both laughing)

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APPRAISER: He was a hard-working
maker. This instrument shows
that level of perfectionism.

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On the inside, on this side of
the viola is handwritten,
"Ansaldo Poggi."

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GUEST: Yes.

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APPRAISER: "Fece in Bologna,
anno 1967." That's his
handwriting.

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GUEST: Yeah. APPRAISER:
There's no question about it.

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GUEST: Yes.

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APPRAISER: The other thing that
I really love, in the 1920s, he
started branding his violas,

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"A. Poggi." So I'm convinced
that this, this is it. And have
you had it appraised?

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GUEST: No. APPRAISER: Do
you have a sense of value?

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GUEST: As I say, I always
carried it around as a kid. I
enjoyed playing it

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immensely. It has a marvelous
sound, but I never took it that
seriously,

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I... You know, it was, it was
my instrument and that was it.

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APPRAISER: His work has gained
drastically in value because

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they sound-- they have a big
sound, a clear sound, with lots
of color.

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GUEST: Yeah. APPRAISER: And
he only made 41 violas.

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GUEST: Oh, my God!

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APPRAISER: Right. He's known to
have made at least 388
instruments over a career of, of
60 years,

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but only 41 violas. So this is a
viola that's kind of come out
into the light,

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which is extre, extremely
exciting for me.

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GUEST (chuckling): Really?

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APPRAISER: I talked to some of
my colleagues about the
marketplace.

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GUEST: Mm-hmm? Yes?

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APPRAISER: And they said, "You
know what? In the United States,
it's a little uncertain as to
what

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the marketplace would be, but
probably somewhere around
$200,000 retail price."

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GUEST (laughing): I was
thinking, you know, several tens
of thousands, maybe.

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(stammering):
$200,000, possibly?

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APPRAISER: Well, here's the good
news. That was the bad news.

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GUEST: Okay.

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APPRAISER: The good news is that
in the Asian market and in the
European market,

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the value for an Ansaldo Poggi
viola in this kind of condition
would be more like $300,000.

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GUEST: Okay. (laughs) Okay.
Well, I don't intend to sell it,
you know.

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APPRAISER: For insurance
purposes, I would put this at
$330,000.

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GUEST (laughing): Okay. Cool.