Georges Chanot III

Georges Chanot III (11 January 1831–11 March 1895) was a French luthier (or violin-maker) who ran a successful business in London in the late 19th century.

When Maucotel retired Chanot bought the business and from 1858 he successfully ran it from 157 Wardour Street[1] in the Soho district of London, mostly selling violins made by his father.

In 1881 he was at the centre of a court case concerning a violin to which he had given a fake Carlo Bergonzi label and then sold as genuine.

His deception was discovered by violin-maker William Ebsworth Hill but Chanot qualified his admission of guilt by claiming that this was common practice in the violin-selling business; the court was unconvinced by his explanation and found him guilty.

Guests to his atelier included such notable violinists as Joseph Joachim, August Wilhelmj and Henryk Wieniawski.