Item 33 - Letter from Charles J. Wilson to Elizabeth Trevelyan

1 item

14 Old Queen Street, Westminster. - She should remember that the prices he suggested were the ones at which he himself could buy: his practice is to buy an instrument when he can get favourable terms; thinks 'no dealer would... commit himself to repurchase a violin at any time for £10 less than the price paid for it', due to questions as to condition for instance. A 'large stock of instruments means a great deal of wasted money; if as she suggests an instrument could go up in value by twenty or thirty pounds the dealer would 'do much better' keeping it instead of selling it. Feels it is best to 'go to a dealer of good standing'; will be easy to change it then, and she will only lose out by a few pounds for the dealer if she ever decides to sell it. If she decides to get one elsewhere, likely that 'either changing or selling would be a matter of very great difficulty'; has seen a violin purchased for a hundred and fifty pounds in Italy which could only be sold for forty pounds here; the dealers 'have taken everything they want out of Europe, & what they have left is not worth having'. Almost all the good instruments come to London; a few go to Paris; they are 'singularly scarce' in Germany. What he has told her about prices and dealing methods is 'very confidential'.