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Recognised by Prime Minister Gordon Brown as “a standard-bearer for the very best of British business”, having won the Queen’s Award for Enterprise this year, John and Arthur Beare, incorporating Morris & Smith – now widely known as Beare's – has a long and distinguished history in violin dealing and expertise dating back to 1892.

Today, the company is recognised by players and collectors worldwide for providing greatly respected expertise and service along with some of the finest instruments available. Throughout its history, Beare's has enjoyed close links with an international clientele of leading musicians and collectors. The cellists Jacqueline du Pre, Pierre Fournier, Yo Yo Ma, Mstislav Rostropovich, Lynn Harrel, and violinists Joshua Bell, Pinchas Zukermann, Nigel Kennedy, Vanessa Mae, and Isaac Stern are just some of the many high profile clients of the firm.

In 1998 J & A Beare joined with emerging London dealers, Morris & Smith, and now has offices in New York, Seoul, Dallas and London, from where it operates the several different dimensions of the business. The instruments that come through the company’s doors are often as famous as its clients. Beares specialises in violins by Italian masters such as Stradivari and Guarneri from the 17th and 18th centuries, which regularly change hands for six and sometimes seven-figure prices. The price of these instruments is less a reflection of their age than the sound they produce.

Alongside the trade in instruments, Beares operates a service and repair department that is invaluable to the business, and holds the job of looking after the precious instruments entrusted to it in the highest regard. It recognises that the responsibility in caring for them is not to be taken lightly and considers it essential to bear in mind that they are the instruments of future generations. David Morris explains:

“The workshop is an extremely important part of Beares and we are proud to have built up over the years the best workshop in the world. We must look after and repair instruments that can be over 300 years old and be worth millions of pounds so there is no room for error. For the men and women of our workshop this is not just a job, but a labour of love. Each one of them is dedicated to preserving instruments so they can be played hopefully for another 300 years. Restoration is not simple woodwork and can involve complicated techniques, with many restorations taking over a year to complete.”

The New York office is currently working on the repair of a 1772 violin made by Giovanni Guadagnini and owned by the virtuoso violinist, David Garrett, who damaged the instrument after slipping down a flight of stairs and landing on the case. The damage, which includes major cracks at the f-holes, is expected to take at least eight months to repair, but Morris’ colleagues not only have the skill, but also the equipment for the job. While tools that Stradivari himself would have used are regularly employed, so are ultra modern pieces.

“If you walked into our workshop today, it would look like the set of a film about a violin-maker from several hundred years ago," Morris told the BBC in a recent interview. "But we also use ultra-violet light and endoscopes, which allow you to see inside and take photos, rather than take the top off the instrument."

Morris explains that expertise – a major key to his company’s success – is a hot topic in the violin business, because of the value of commodities involved and the prevalence of unscrupulous people trying to pass off fakes. Some might be surprised to hear it, but this is an age-old phenomenon, and Morris notes how it was recorded as far back as 1685, when violinist Tommasso Vitali complained to the Duke of Modena that he had bought a violin for the price of twelve pistoles because the violin bore the label of Nicolo Amati, a maker of great repute. Vitali discovered that the label was false having found underneath the label of Francesco Ruggieri, a maker of much less repute, whose violins were not worth three pistoles. Today, both Amati and Ruggieri are both regarded as great Cremonese makers and little separates them in value.

Beares is often involved in helping the best young musicians acquire a great instrument to play. This can sometimes mean finding a philanthropist and music lover willing to help purchase a violin for a deserving young artist, loaning an instrument that belongs to the company itself, or working with institutions who have collections of instruments which can be lent. All this is very necessary when one considers that a concert violin can cost from £150,000 to £4,000,000.

Morris concludes by explaining his affection for the industry: “On a personal note I feel like the luckiest man in the world. I am a violinist and have the opportunity to play the best violins ever made and meet musicians and colleagues from all corners of the world.”