Note to former clients of William Moennig & Son, Ltd.

Since the closing of William Moennig & Son, I have frequently been an unofficial "FAQ" about the business. Seeing as I left the Moennig’s employ in 2002, I can hardly offer current, up-to-date information. There are a few points in which I can offer assistance:

Certification and Appraisals

A number of people have asked me about the Moennig records. It was mistakenly assumed that these were sold at the Tarisio auction, In fact, they were not. What was sold was the archive of photographs taken of instruments sold by the firm since the 1930s, which included negatives and unused prints of instruments and bows and the photo reference binders, which included some but not all of the Moennig photos plus some provenance details and a smattering of additional reference photos from colleagues and friends, including a variety of my own. The permanent records, which included all provenance and documentation data regarding the instruments and bows they sold, are all in long-term storage. They are not now available to the public, nor will they be in the foreseeable future. Lost certificates cannot be replaced. This is exactly the sort of situation that gives reinforcement to the oft-stated advice "put your certificates in a safe place."

This is not to say that lost certificates were ever easy to replace. In the early 1980s, after several ‘lost’ certificates were reissued and subsequently ‘reappeared’ accompanying other instruments, Bill Moennig III made a firm decision that lost certificates would not henceforth be reissued. He still held by this decision when I left in 2002; I do not know whether the policy was relaxed in subsequent years.

I remember many (but certainly not all) of the instruments that passed through the shop between 1977 and 2002, and can on occasion confirm a provenance. Re-Certification, as well as insurance appraisals, are among the services I provide. Those who had dealt with the Moennig shop in more recent years should by all means contact Dick Donovan, who assumed prime responsibility there in the years after Bill III died. His e-mail address is .

Repairs

I was never personally involved in repairs and thus can offer little help on this score. I would instead suggest either contacting Dick or going to the website of the American Federation of Violin and Bow Makers (http://afvbm.com), where you can find a list of highly qualified violin and bow makers and restorers, listed geographically.

Philip J. Kass
209 East Park Road
Havertown, PA 19083 USA
Tel/Fax (610) 446-3254

http://www.PhilipKass.com