Amati > Makers Archive > William Arthur Beare

William Arthur Beare

Auction price history

Highest auction price

£5,061

Type	Details	Sold	Price
Violin	35.4 cm London, 1930	Wed 1st October 2008	£5,061
Violin	London, 1930	Wed 1st December 2004	£2,530
Violin	1933	Sat 1st September 1984	£1,871

Biographies

John Dilworth

BEARE, William Arthur Born 1910 Streatham, d.2000 St Margaret’s Bay, Kent UK. Son of Arthur Beare, above. Trained in Mirecourt with Marc Laberte and rejoined the family business in 1929. Took over in 1945 at the death of his father, and became chairman and managing director in 1954. William Beare was a very skilled maker (some 30 violins extant of fine French-style workmanship) but his career was as a connoisseur and expert, and director of the firm of J. & A. Beare. Succeeded by his step-son, Charles, who trained in Mittenwald, Germany and with Rembert Wurlitzer and Simone Sacconi in New York. Charles Beare continued and increased the reputation of the company and is recognised as perhaps the leading connoisseur of the late 20th and early 21st century.