LONDON.- Specialist Musical Instrument Auctioneers Ingles & Hayday announced they will be selling a violin and a viola by important Italian makers Tomaso Balestrieri and Giuseppe Rocca in their auction on Tuesday, March 31, 2015 at 2pm at Sotheby's, New Bond Street, London, W1A 2AA.

The violin by Tomaso Balestrieri (fl Mantua, c1750-80) dates from circa 1765 and is labelled Thomas Balestrieri Cremonensis Fecit Mantuæ Anno 1775. It is sold with the certificate of Jacques Français, New York, dated 16th March 1987 and carries an estimate of £200,000-300,000.

The viola by Giuseppe Rocca (b Barbaresco, Alba, 1807; d Genoa, 1865) dates from 1852 and is labelled Joseph Rocca fecit Genua anno Domini 1852 IHS. It is accompanied by a certificate from Marcel Vatelot, Paris, dated 12th April 1957. This viola was part of the collection of Dr. Johannes Zahn, to whom the Vatelot certificate is made out. Dr. Zahn was chairman of the private bank C.G. Trinkaus, President of the Düsseldorf Stock Exchange and Executive Director of the World Bank in the 1950s. He owned various fine instruments, including the 'Zahn' Stradivari of 1719, the 'Kogan' Guarneri del Gesù of 1726 and the 'L'Evêque' Stradivari cello of 1690. Dr. Zahn was a keen amateur violinist and violist, who played from the age of 16 until he was 92. This viola has been with his family ever since and is expected to fetch £150,000-200,000.

Also from the collection of Dr Zahn is a 19th century viola from the Ceruti School in Italy. Labelled Jo. Baptista Ceruti Cremonensis fecit Cremonæ An. 1807 , it is accompanied by a certificate from Etienne Vatelot of Paris, dated 24th April 1975. It is estimated at £15,000-£20,000.

The sale includes several violins that have been played by important musicians. A violin made in Cremona in 1832 by Joseph Ceruti (b Cremona, 1785; d Mantua, 1860) – that was played by David Garrett is expected to fetch £60,000-80,000. David Garrett was born in Aachen, Germany, in 1980 and is a classical, pop, and crossover violinist. He studied violin at the Lübeck Conservatoire and later in London and New York. He is a prolific recording artist and has a particular interest in arousing young people's interest in classical music.

A violin, dating from 1726, made by David Tecchler (b Salzburg, 1666; d Rome, 1747) carries an estimate of £70,000-£100,000. The violin was the concert instrument of French violinist Françoise Thoumieux, First Prize winner in 1959 at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique. A violin made in either Como or Milan circa 1795 by Giuseppe Guadagnini (b 1753; d 1805) was played by Lena Neudauer at the International Leopold Mozart Competition in 1999. Lena won not only First Prize, but also the Audience Prize, the R. Strauss Prize and the Mozart Prize and the violin is expected to fetch £90,000-£140,000.

Also included in the sale, which comprises in the region of 170 violins, violas, cellos and bows are two interesting violins from important collections. A Violin After The 'Messie' Stradivari by Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume (b Mirecourt, 1798; d Paris, 1875) from the collection of C.M. Sin and made in Paris in 1871 is estimated at £100,000-£150,000. This violin has been in two of the most important 20th century collections, those of Nathan E. Posner and Cho-Ming Sin. Posner owned nine Stradivaris, including the 'Joachim' of 1714 and the 'Piatti' of 1717. He also owned the 'Caraman de Chimay' Vuillaume violin which was sold at Sotheby's in 1988 as part of the Bloomfield Collection. C.M. Sin has owned many of the world's finest instruments, including the 'Lady Blunt' and 'Venus' Stradivaris and the 'King Joseph' Guarneri del Gesù. His collection of Vuillaumes was the finest in the world, and has been dispersed over the last few years. This is the last violin to be sold.

A violin made in Venice in 1700 by Matteo Goffriller (b Bressanone, c1659; d Venice, 1742) carries an estimate of £120,000-£180,000. It is accompanied by two certificates, one from W.E. Hill & Sons, London, dated 1st February 1951, and the other J. & A. Beare, London, dated 16th June 2006. The Hill certificate of 1951 is made out to F.G. Rost, a London-based collector who owned a number of fine Italian instruments including another fine Goffriller violin, which subsequently belonged to Gerald Segelman.