Early Don Messer fiddle to be sold
One of the first fiddles ever used by Canadian musical legend Don Messer, which has been untouched for 33 years, will be sold at a July auction, his daughter says.
“It makes me a little sad,” Dawn Messer Attis told the Canadian Press, adding that she hopes the person who buys it at a July 23 auction will play it and “enjoy it.”
The 1929 fiddle was bought by Messer for $105 in 1930 and has been sitting in a climate-controlled room at the Nova Scotia Archives in Halifax since 1973 ó the year the musician died of a heart attack.
Messer, who was born in New Brunswick, hosted the popular Don Messer’s Jubilee on CBC Television from 1958 to 1969. The fiddler had a loyal following for his brand of what he dubbed “way-down East” music.
Messer began playing at the age of seven, performing at barn dances and weddings while collecting a small pile of fiddles.
The plain brown fiddle being sold is a copy of a Stradivarius ó the invaluable stringed instruments made by Italian Antonio Stradivari in the late 1600s. There are less than 700 such instruments left in the world, highly prized for producing exceptional sound.
There are a few nicks on the fiddle and it shows “some wear and tear” because of its age, according to Keith Ross, who will play the violin at the auction in Coldbrook, N.S.
Messer left a note in its carrying case saying that the fiddle was “very responsive” and he was happy playing it for five years before switching to another one.
Messer had some 14 fiddles in his lifetime. A few have been sold and others given to friends. Attis, 72, kept one to pass on to her son. One fiddle was bought in 2004 for $8,000 at an auction.
Attis said the family considered leaving the fiddle at the archives, which houses much of Messer’s memorabilia including awards, records and sheet music.
But she said they recalled one of her father’s constant comments: “A good instrument has to be played.”
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