Pierre Marcard, well-known luthier in France, 1794-1867. This guitar is from about 1845–1850.
Signed with the maker’s stamp/signature on inside, back (see photo).
• All original: finish, bridge, frets, endpin, everything
• Spruce top
• Ebony bridge
• Finely decorated mother of pearl rosette
• Brazilian rosewood/maple laminate back
• Solid Brazilian rosewood sides (note this is rare: solid, it was an upgrade from the standard practice of the day to do laminate sides as well.
• Scale length: 632mm
• Nut width: 46mm
You can see a sound/video clip of this guitar being played, here:
Condition: Amazing original condition.
• Similar to other fine guitars of that era, from Lacote and others, the “finish” on the top of the guitar – still all original finish and unmolested – is super thin. Those master French luthiers thought that less finish on top, was better.
• No cracks on top, back, sides
• A few tiny and superficial surface “cracks” on a few sections of binding
• Bridge, all original, has never been off the instrument. Saddle looks original. The bridge does have a few cracks in the ebony, parallel to the length of the bridge. We have left them as is, for originality (a luthier might fill in the tiny gaps with ebony paste – the structure/integrity of the bridge is good.)
• The bridge pins look original to the guitar, but hard to verify that.
• Action of the guitar is good, consistent with mid nineteenth century standards.
• Tone of the guitar, is excellent. Good projection for this sized instrument. Playability is very good– with good intonation even at high registers.
Price: $8250.
Will ship in a modern hard shell case.
