The Touch of the Master's Hand

'Twas battered and scarred,

And the auctioneer thought it

hardly worth his while

To waste his time on the old violin,

but he held it up with a smile.

"What am I bid, good people", he cried,

"Who starts the bidding for me?"

"One dollar, one dollar, Do I hear two?"

"Two dollars, who makes it three?"

"Three dollars once, three dollars twice, going for three,"

More than likely you have heard this poem by Myra Brooks Welch. It is a tearjerker. You can learn more about her at this link.

I felt a bit like this Tuesday as I went to the Salvation Army store to make a clothes purchase. The SA is the missionary’s friend. While there I remembered that just a year ago, at this same location, I had found an old clarinet. I didn’t buy it because I felt that it was too expensive. But that thought sparked curiosity and I headed over to the “Jewelry Counter” again. Sounds extravagant... its not.  

The, “Ring the Bell for Service” sign was beside one of those familiar little chimes and my granddaughter Cait was happy to oblige it. We waited a few seconds and finally a lady came to attend us. “I’d like to see that violin.” She wandered over and picked up the battered ugly brown bundle.

The case alone would have deterred the average purchaser. It was a shade of brown that should never have been fabricated. The “shoulder” strap was broken and tattered. The buckles on the strap were rusted. The small end near the neck of the instrument looked like someone had stepped on it. Its fiberglass shield had been crushed under someone’s cruel heel.

As I strained to open the rusted clamps I half expected moths to come flying out. Inside was the typical coffin green velvet. But the first thing that I noticed were the two bows whose hairs looked like a bow version of Albert Einstein's hair doo. There was hair everywhere!

I winced. Yuck. I took the violin in hand and gave it a once-over. I thought, “I hope this is about $20 bucks! I don’t want to have to pay much more than that for this thing.”

It had some wear marks. Bill Gothard would have called them “Marks of ownership”. Though slight I called them scratches. I remembered a key bit of violin CSI work. I looked in the little “scroll type” holes. There I saw the typical word Handmade in the style of Stradavarius. I feigned surprise and said, “ITS WORTH A MILLION DOLLARS!! HAHAHA.

We all laughed and I said, “How much is it?” “The price is on the bottom of the case” the employee mumbled. Sure enough, there on the bottom on an orange sticker scrawled in sharpie was, “$35”. I told her that I’d take it. She acted surprised as I went to try on my second-hand jeans.

It was Wednesday at the SA store and that means that Seniors, like me, get 25% off! Yay! I love Wednesday. I went to checkout and gave the cashier my “golden” ticket for the violin. “I’m going to have to classify this as jewelry or you won't get your discount.” I nodded approval and thought, “Costume jewelry might have been a good description”. After the discount I didn’t balk as I paid $26.42 and carted the thing to my “97” Ram Van.

On the way home I decided to stop and get some strings at this really cool violin store in Waterford on Sashabaw near Dixie called McCourt’s String Shop. They have a nice selection of violins, cellos, and violas. They even have a special “humidity control” room for them and practice rooms for lessons.

The teen girl, Laura, eyed me and must have thought that I was some kind of musical instrument sucker. It might have been the poo... er “goldenrod” brown case, or my senior status. Don't know. However, I asked for strings and she offered me a selection between $20 and $100 bucks! She then mentioned the bridge.“I’ll probably need to replace that! It’ll be about $40 bucks” she urged. No, I said. “You’ll need a new bow. How about this $40 version?” I again winced and said, “Man, I don’t want to pay more for the bow than I paid for the instrument!”

I told her about my intentions for this little jewel in our budding orchestra in Brazil but what she said next stunned me. “Sir, consider this purchase because this instrument is worth between $500 and $700 dollars. It is a Pfretzschner, made in Germany in 1964. It is a good sturdy instrument. Did they have any more of these at the SA?”

I nearly choked and as I looked around for the “Antique Roadshow” cameras a smile crept across my face. “You aren't going to let those little Brazilian kids abuse this fine instrument are you?” It was one of those, “I can't believe that this is happening!” moments. As my mother used to say, “I was tickled pink!”

Today I went back to pick up my Pfretzschner. I had decided to add the $40 bow. Laura had finished her work last night. Today I talked to Kris. She does a lot of the restoration work on the instruments and told me that McCourts will probably be able to send some more instruments with me to Brazil! As she added the bow to my total I knew that my purchase was going to be at least $100 with the bow, strings, adjusters and labor. Kris said, “Is this for the mission?” “Yes.” “Okay. That’ll be $22.40.” Another jaw-dropping expression left me speechless. My total investment $48.65 for this FINE little instrument! Looking back at the story I could see the Master’s hand in all of it!