Antiques Roadshow

GUEST: It belonged to my grandmother, my father's mother, and she was a violin teacher in the Chicago area for many years.

I think that my grandmother got it from her first husband who immigrated from Czechoslovakia in the '30s.

But other than that, I have no idea.

APPRAISER: And have you played it?

GUEST: Yes, I am a violinist as well.

And, uh, because I came to it in my 30s, I didn't play it as much as I was not in any symphonies at the time.

But it is a beautiful sounding instrument.

You can tell it's very, very old.

APPRAISER: Well what struck me when I saw it is the beautiful choice of wood.

So if you look at the back, it's a maple back, but it has a beautiful figure in it.

Almost what we call a bird's eye maple.

And you can see that maple also on the ribs.

And then, of course, the belly is spruce.

And it's what all violin makers want to find for their violins, really straight grained spruce.

So it's made by a maker who knew his materials.

It's in beautiful condition.

There's no visible cracks, the string heights look correct.

It's lovely.

So you've probably seen the label.

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: It says "F.R.

Herclik," and then the next word is in Czech, and it means violin maker, "houslar."

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: And then it says the city that he worked in, "Mlad Boleslav."

GUEST: That's a mouthful.

(laughs) APPRAISER: I don't speak Czech, so you're gonna have to pardon me.

And then it says 1925.

And then it says, "Copy of a David Techler.

Rome, 1690."

Frantisek Herclik was an interesting maker.

He was the first maker in his family.

And then his two sons also became violin makers.

And so he was the beginning of a dynasty.

GUEST: Wow.

APPRAISER: And they're in the books, they're important makers.

He was born in 1866, died in 1948.

This violin was made in 1925.

In the world of violin makers, he was in his prime.

GUEST: Sure, yeah.

APPRAISER: And so he copied the work of David Techler.

GUEST: Oh.

APPRAISER: There were a number of German makers from the area of ssen in Germany who came to Rome in the late 1600s, and Techler was among the best.

GUEST: Interesting.

Okay.

APPRAISER: So how did Frantisek Herclik come to copy a David Techler violin?

GUEST: Right.

APPRAISER: He must have seen one.

There must have been one in his community, because it's a really rare violin that he copied, and a very successful violin.

Techlers these days are, like, $500,000 to $750,000.

GUEST: (chuckles) APPRAISER: You know, they're-- it's an important violin.

GUEST: Uh-huh.

Okay.

APPRAISER: So your violin is not of that category.

GUEST: Right.

APPRAISER: Even though it was copied after that work.

GUEST: Sure.

APPRAISER: In today's marketplace, in a retail setting, your violin would be in the $10,000 to $12,000 price range.

GUEST: Whoo!

Phew.

That's a lot!

For something, uh... yeah.

Wow, that's amazing.

APPRAISER: Are you surprised a little bit?

GUEST: Um, yes, I am surprised.

We took bets on how much I thought it would be, and I guessed $2,000 to $3,000.

APPRAISER: Oh!

GUEST: (laughs) Almost five times that.

That's amazing.