Item 20
Price: $70,000
Appraised Value 2016: $50,000
Appraised Value 2021: $80,000
SOLD
Francisco Simplicio (1874-1932) was a pupil of great Madrid guitar maker Enrique García and his work reflected García’s influence. This finely crafted and highly decorated instrument shows Simplicio’s finest work.
The soundboard is made of matched halves of straight-grained spruce with spacing varying from 32 per inch near the center joint to 16 per inch at the edge of the lower bout. The theme band of the rosette shows a red square-wave pattern inset with tiny mosaic diamonds on a black background, bordered with concentric circles and innermost and outermost bands of delicate zigzags. The bridge is rosewood and the top of its tie-block is highly decorated with mother-of-pearl and wood inlay featuring the zigzag pattern shown in the rosette, also repeated in a decorative edging around the perimeter of the soundboard.
Back and sides are made from highly figured satinwood with triple purfling along the edges of the body that blends with wide fillet strips at the center back seam and the lower junction of the sides. Neck and head are made of Spanish cedar. The heel is broad and rounded. The face of the head is veneered with ebony beautifully carved in a torch-like vase and leaf pattern set against a textured background. The fingerboard is made of ebony with medium frets. Plates of the tuning machines are highly worked and engraved, the tuning grips are mother-of-pearl and the string rollers have small bollards for attachment of the strings.
The sound is mature, sweet and even. Treble sustain is exceptionally good with the higher trebles holding on to their fundamental tones rather than dissolving into harmonics. Visible wear on the fingerboard indicates much playing, however, this guitar is in excellent condition and its original French polish of shellac finish shows only moderate playing wear.
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