Books › The reminiscences of a fiddle dealer, 1925 › scan 75
Scan 75
The reminiscences of a fiddle dealer, 1925
10 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 51. See the scan on archive.org.
1A Masterpiece by Vuillaume
3With one solitary exception, I never saw in the house of Vuillaume any instruments with this special varnish, but I have seen them in the possession of amateurs who always admitted having paid an extra price for them.
5As I was in the habit of buying a good many violins from him at this time, in fact as many as he could give me, his orders from all countries for violins keeping him constantly employed, I often asked him to make me similar ones. He readily undertook to do so, but although I was quite willing as he well knew to pay any extra price for them, I never got more than the one referred to above from him.
7He always declared that his success with them was more or less accidental; this might quite well be the case, but the difference in the quality of the two coverings was not accidental. When I cornered him with this remark, he got out of it by quoting violins of the Italian makers, which differed as much and even more than his. Not caring to argue the point with him I kept silent though I was by no means convinced.
9On one of my visits I asked M. Vuillaume if he would make me a copy of Paganini's Guarnerius, which he readily consented to do, and on my return some months later he handed it to me with this written below the ticket "Pour mon ami M. David Laurie." It was simply one of his masterpieces, nothing more need be said about it. But whilst speaking of his copies of violins
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