Yeats Family Violin. Labelled D. Nicolas Ainé Mirecourt’ c1810-20. UPDATE: THIS MADE £5,000
Lot 479 at the sale by Dominic Winter auctioneers in Cirencester on July 16 is an early 19th-century French Mirecourt violin, from the private collection of the family of Nobel Prize-winning Irish poet W. B. Yeats. The violin was acquired by ‘Chapel Violins’ from the Yeats Family Collection auction conducted by Fonsie Mealy Auctioneers in Castlecomer in November 2017. It was from the Dalkey home of Michael Yeats (1921–2007), a former senator and the son of W. B. Yeats (1865-1939) and his wife the harpist Gráinne Yeats (1925–2013). Since its acquisition, the violin has remained on display within the ‘Chapel Violins’ workshop as part of its private collection, where it has served as an example of exceptional early French violin-making and also as an instrument connected with one of Ireland’s most celebrated literary families. The estimate is £6,000-£8,000.