State of the Market (Preview)

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 I’m working on a long-form article on the state of the violin market.  This is a small preview.

One current problem with the violin business is the proliferation of dealers and a kind of atomization of the trade, which when combined with an increase in the higher end of the market and in sales costs overall, creates a situation where the desire to “cash-in” trumps the need to carefully vet provenance and authenticity. Where there is a rise in prices, there will always be a rise in fakes. As high-end violins and bows are further commodified, priced out of the range of most musicians and pushed as financial investment products to wealthy collectors, institutions and oligarchs, serious experts are increasingly coming under threat due to the potentially high profits at stake. The irony is that this is precisely the time when we need real expertise to check the irrational exuberance of a market where everyone or anyone is an “expert” because more people want to get in on the action, despite their lack of knowledge. Add to this desperate “rush to profit” the problem that real expertise cannot be empirically proven in most cases, such as in a court of law. Science can be used as a tool, but it can never replace true connoisseurship. The nature of true expertise is subtle and based on years and years of study and experience, but the current market demands certificates now, and it is all too easy for some to fall into line and give the trade what it wants. There are those who have benefited financially and professionally, but at what cost? If we are not careful the market will eventually destroy itself, taking along with it our hard-won reputations and income.