Sell a cello or bow
Welcome to the Cello Exchange, our service for cellists wishing to sell an instrument or bow. Our starting price for cellos is £15,000 and £2,000 for cello bows. If you have a cello or bow you’d like us to sell on your behalf, please send us some photos. If they look promising, we’ll invite you to visit us in Ely where we will examine the cello /bow carefully and discuss minor repairs or set up work needed, as well as completing some consignment paperwork.
All instruments and bows in the Cello Exchange are featured on this popular website and in our newsletters which are distributed worldwide three times a year by post, email and social media. See Cellos for Sale and Bows for Sale for our current listings. As we publish prices online, we undertake careful market research and agree prices directly with the owner, who is consulted at every stage of the process and is informed whenever an instrument/bow goes out on trial. We enjoy showing cellos and bows to clients in our beautiful music room in Ely and we carefully manage trial periods of two weeks for a cello and one week for a bow.
When an instrument or bow is sold, we arrange for the buyer to pay the seller the full sum direct, which ensures complete financial transparency. We only invoice sellers for our sales commission once full payment has been received by the seller. We charge a modest sales commission of 12.5% for cellos and 15% for bows (see Terms and Conditions below for the full details.)
The Cello Exchange has sold cellos by the following makers: Barak Norman, Benjamin Banks, James and Henry Banks, Aristide Cavalli, Collin-Mezin, George Corsby, George Craske, Thomas Dodd, Bernard Simon Fendt, Simon Andrew Forster, William Forster Senior, William Forster Junior, Henry Furber, John Furber, Louis Guersan, Lockey Hill, Henry Lockey Hill, Henry Jay, Thomas Kennedy, Giuseppe Pedrazzini, Jean-Baptiste Salomon, J & J Simpson, Thomas Smith, Mathias Thir, Robert Thompson, Antonio Ungarini and Peter Wamsley as well as fine unnamed Italian instruments. The Cello Exchange has also sold fine cello bows by Bazin, Bultitude, Dodd, Fétique, Hill, Ouchard, Peccatte, Sartory, Simon, Vidoudez and Vigneron.
Cello Exchange Terms And Conditions
If a client wishes to sell a cello or bow through the Cello Exchange, Aitchison & Mnatzaganian will assess the instrument/bow and agree a selling price. We will also discuss the need for any minor repairs or set up work before the cello/bow is made available for sale and we will discuss the estimated cost with the owner. The owner insures the instrument/bow while it is at our studio in Ely; we insure the instrument/bow when it is out on approval.
If the cello/bow has not been offered for sale by a different dealer/auction house immediately prior to their consignment in the Cello Exchange, we ask the owner to commit their instrument/bow to a minimum period of six months in the Cello Exchange from the date of the agreement. If the cello/bow has been offered by a different dealer/auction house immediately prior to its consignment in the Cello Exchange, we ask owners to commit their cello/bow to the Cello Exchange for a minimum period of twelve months from the date of the agreement. If after six/twelve months the owner decides to remove their instrument or bow from the Cello Exchange, this can be arranged only when an instrument and bow are not currently out on approval with a player. If an instrument and bow are out on approval, the approval process must be completed as normal and the current potential buyer must be free to decide whether or not to purchase the instrument or bow.
The owner is responsible for the collection of their instrument or bow from our premises in Ely if they wish to remove them from the Cello Exchange. Payment for any agreed work completed on the cello or bow will be payable on collection by the owner.Each cello or bow for sale will be listed at www.aitchisoncellos.com and in selected newsletters. The owner will be informed by email whenever their cello or bow is taken out on approval. When we find a buyer for the cello or bow we arrange for the buyer to pay the full selling price direct to the vendor. We will then invoice the vendor for 12.5% of the selling price for cellos, and for bows priced over £8,000. From January 2015 onwards, our commission charge is 15% for bows priced £7,999 or less. Payment of commission is due only when funds from the sale are cleared in the vendor’s account.
We are currently seeking cellos priced from £25,000 upwards on behalf of cellists actively seeking an instrument. We are also specifically seeking exceptional cellos by fine English, Italian and French makers. If you have such an instrument you would like to be assessed for inclusion in the Cello Exchange, please call 01353 668559 or email us at sarah@aitchisoncellos.com. We also have customers seeking to invest in fine quality bows in the region of £10,000 upwards. Please note that since September 2015 the Cello Exchange has ceased to sell cellos by living makers apart from instruments by Robin Aitchison.