A Fine French Violin From Collin Mezin Pere for Hawkes & Son, 1896.

Hawkes & Son was first established in 1865 in Edgware, North London, registered again in 1895. They became one of Englands leading purveyors of musical instruments and accessories, and built an enormous workshop complex called “Sonorous Works” in 1924, which employed as many as 250 craftsmen just three years later; From 1930, the instrument manufacturers and importers would become the international publishing monopoly, Boosey & Hawkes - a name recognized the world over for close to 100 years now.

The offerings of Hawkes & Sons included trade instruments from England, Germany, and France, as well as a number of famous artisans, among which where the likes of Ernst Heinrich Roth, Eugene Sartory, Giuseppe Pedrazzini, Falisse, Milton, and J.B. Collin-Mezin to name a few.

This violin imported and sold by Hawkes & Son bears their shop label in its belly dating it as both 1896 and 1945 and is undoubtedly from the French workshop of J.B. Collin-Mezin, for whom they were primary distributer in England. It may have been on the shelf for a few years before they labeled it and likely dates to the early 1930’s, made under the leadership of Collin-Mezin II.0

The exemplary wood selection features a two piece back of pronounced descending flame, with equally beautiful and matching maple for the ribs and headstock, with an even medium grained spruce for the top; meticulous, characterful craftsmanship and attention to detail is consistent with CM Pere, finished with a lustrous, transparent golden orange varnish for which instruments of that period are highly regaled - demonstrating an exquisite state of preservation.