Books › A short account of a violin by Stradivari, dated 1690 : now in the possession of Messrs. W. E. Hill & sons, 1889 › scan 22
Scan 22
A short account of a violin by Stradivari, dated 1690 : now in the possession of Messrs. W. E. Hill & sons, 1889
2 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1original purchaser, ascertained, when on a visit to his family in Ireland, that the violin had at last been found, and he identified it at once by the original receipt, quoted above, which was found inside the case. The circumstances in which the discovery was made have been communicated to Messrs. Hill by Mr. R. Ward, a connection and neighbour of the Ker family in the north of Ireland, and mark an interesting epoch in the history of the violin. About the year 1845, Portavoe House, the residence of Mr. David Ker (son of the original purchaser) was destroyed by fire, and the family took refuge at Bangor Castle, Belfast, Mr. Ward's seat. Among the chattels rescued from the fire and conveyed to the Castle was found the long-sought fiddle. It was enclosed in its original old case, opening at one end, but was quite out of order, with no sound post. With a view to placing the instrument, which he christened "The Toscana," in careful hands, Mr. Richard Ker took it to a friend, Mr. F. Ricardo, an ardent amateur, then resident in Paris, and its subsequent history includes several interesting incidents. Mr. Ricardo was at first puzzled by its fresh appearance, but lost no time in taking it to the celebrated Parisian maker, Vuillaume. His old foreman examined it carefully, but would give no opinion; but, on Vuillaume's entrance, held it up and said: "Here! Monsieur Vuillaume, here is a Stradivari," to which Vuillaume, without approaching nearer, replied at once: "Oui, certainement." He then took the violin in his hands and pulled out the pegs, remarking that they did not belong to it. This interesting testimony to the genuineness of the instrument, and to the remarkable judgment possessed by Vuillaume, was given by an eye-witness of the occurrence.
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