Etienne Laprevotte - with enlosed tuners 1844

The only other known examples of this model guitar is at the Barcelona Museum (Aguado's guitar) and one at the Paris museum. This was Laprevotte's top model with the enlosed ivory tuners and decorative table. This guitar is in complete origional condition. It came from a private collection in Paris where it remained in storage for 40+ years, so the guitar avoided the hands of many potential restorers. As noted in "Maitres Luthiers - Robert Fissore" this model sold between 125 to 150 francs. Like the other two models in this collection, this guitar's bracing consist of two long bass bars. Back and sides of figured Satinwood with the back carved from a solid piece. The label has a hand written date of 1844. This date corresponds to Laprevottes know address at this time. Could this be his hand writing? The photo at the bottom of this page is of Aguado playing an instrument identical to this one in design, bridge type etc. The etching is a tad elongated making the instrument look slightly longer and thinner.