This is the Paul Kaul violin made in France dated 1918. Paul Kaul is a French violin maker who joined several workshops such as Thibouville Lamy, Silvestre and Maucotel, Vuillemin-Didion. He started several workshops on rue Racine, Nantes in 1907, rue du Pont Communeau in 1908, and at 130 Boulevard Brune in 1926.
Paul Kaul (1875 – 1951) is a French violin maker born in Mirecourt (Vosges) in 1875. His father was employed in Jerome Thibouville Lamy’s workshop to varnish instruments. At the age of thirteen, he began as an apprentice in the same workshop his father was working.
After serving the French army, he joined Thibouville Lamy’s workshop at the age of twenty-four in 1899 in Paris. Kaul left Thibouville in 1900 to join Silvestre and Maucotel in Paris. He worked there for five years (1900-1905) and then he went to Nantes to join Vuillemin-Didion’s workshop. After 2 years Kaul established his own workshop in 1907 on rue Racine, Nantes. You can find violins bearing his name on that particular year. Then he moved to rue du Pont Communeau in 1908.
He met Luien Capet in 1917, a violinist who had a hugely important influence on the professional life of Kaul. Kaul then moved to Paris in 1926, where he placed his workshop at 130 Boulevard Brune. His final relocation is at Rue de Rome before he died in 1951 in Vesinet-le-Pec (Seine et Oise).
Léon Bernardel (1853–1931) learned violin making under his father, Ernest Auguste Bernardel, and later worked with Derazey before joining the family’s shop, Gand et Bernardel Frères. In 1899, he established his firm, collaborating with his son, Léon (II). Bernardel’s violins are highly celebrated for their rich, warm tone and exceptional projection, a result of his innovative craftsmanship and attention to detail. His instruments remain sought after by musicians and collectors, and his work continues to inspire luthiers to this day.
Bearing the label "Laurentius Bellafontana fecit Genuae Anno Domini 1943," this violin is the work of Lorenzo (Laurentius) Bellafontana (1906–1979), a distinguished member of the Genoese school and a pupil of Oreste Candi. The Latin label translates to "Laurentius Bellafontana made [this] in Genoa in the year of Our Lord 1943" and includes his characteristic LBG monogram and handwritten signature. Bellafontana's violins are admired for their refined craftsmanship, warm Italian tone, elegant design, responsive playability, and rich orange-red varnish, making them highly regarded examples of 20th-century Italian violin making.
We have here a Lillo Salerno Italian violin made in 2019. Lillo Salerno is an Italian luthier born in Sicily, Italy. He went to Cremona Violin Making School then finished his studies in Mittenwald School of Violin Making in Germany in 2005.
Instrument - Violin
Model- Personalized Stradivari
Top - Italian spruce in two pieces
Back - Balkan maple in two pieces
Scroll - From the same wood as the back
Varnish - Oil and amber with a yellow background, red-brown violin.
Notes - The instrument was made with an antique and shows a black bevel on the scroll and points of the bouts.
Lambert-Humbert Frères firm (fl. 1876 – 1969) was a major violin manufacturer in Mirecourt, offering a wide range of models and quality levels, established in 1876 by violin-making brothers Maurice-Emile and Pierre Alexis Auguste Laberte.
This French violin was made in 1922 by Amédée Dominique Dieudonné, who specialized in copying Cremona Masters and achieved a superior varnishing technique. He started his own workshop in Mirecourt after the First World War in the 1920s.
This 7/8 size violin is labelled Thomas Challoner who worked in Chester, England around 1790. Thomas Challoner was one of the known violin makers in the 18th century.
The Rainer W. Leonhardt "Manuela No. 1" Violin 2025 is a handcrafted master violin from Mittenwald, Germany, made from carefully seasoned European spruce and maple and finished in a beautiful hand-applied amber-brown spirit varnish. Offering a warm, powerful tone with outstanding clarity, projection, and responsiveness.
Rainer W. Leonhardt is a fourth-generation master violin maker whose family workshop has been crafting fine string instruments since 1926. Based in the historic violin-making town of Mittenwald, Germany, he combines centuries-old German craftsmanship with carefully selected tonewoods to create instruments admired by musicians worldwide for their beauty, reliability, and exceptional tonal quality.
