Paul Bailly Violin, 1906

French violin maker Paul Bailly was born in Mirecourt in 1844 and studied with Jules Gaillard before working in Brussels for Nicolas François Vuillaume, and in Paris for his brother J.B. Vuillaume. Around 1880 he travelled to England, the US, and back to England before finally returning to France. 

Bailly settled in Paris for good in 1898, where he built a reputation as a skilled and prolific interpreter of various models, but most of all Stradivari. His cellos are on a fairly large pattern. Overall his instruments, which number more than 3,000, have fine tone quality and often bear a dark red varnish. Bailly's daughter Jenny inherited the shop after his death in 1907. We have had a Jenny Bailly violin for sale in the shop before now, and interestingly it had a similar tone, but very different arching to this Paul Bailly Violin, which is very strong and would suit a soloist. One of the features that makes a violin stand out as a soloist violin is that every single note all the way up the fingerboard sounds as powerful as the next, and this violin meets this criteria. Set up with Evah Pirazzi strings and rosewood fittings. It is in excellent condition.