Career
In 2001, the New York Times described Beare as "the most esteemed authenticator in the world." In 2002, Cable News Network characterized him as the "world"s most respected violin dealer" and "king of all violin dealers." Fourth of five generations of a family of violin experts, he was the Director of the London-based J & A Beare, before resigning in 2012. The step-son of William Beare, Beare was born in 1937. He attended National Service before he began studying violin making in 1958.
Beare studied first in Germany at the Mittenwald School before traveling to the United States at the invitation of Rembert Wurlitzer, training under Simone Fernando Sacconi.
In 1961, he returned to the United Kingdom, where his family had been in the trade for three generations before him. As the head of the family"s business, J & A Beare, he became an authority on authenticating and identifying violins as well as being one of the only tradesman entrusted to repair and maintain instruments by such artists as Yehudi Menuhin, Isaac Stern, and Nathan Milstein.
Beare"s eldest son, Peter, is the fifth generation in the Beare family to take up the trade.
