Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1883-07-27
ABOUT VlOLINS.
FiddIers, Players and Prices.
from the London Telegraph

a very respectaDle-lo0Kln5 nuule, BoOu
enough to play "Haste to the Wedding"
upon, may be purchased at second
hand dealers for few shilliugs. An un-
doubted Antonius Stradivarius may, on the
other hand bring, in au auction, sale, as
much as $4,000
Such u stupendous price was realized .
day or two since at the sale by Messrs Put
tick Il Simpson OF choice collection of
violins, the property OF gentleman deceas-
ed. The Instrument which reached the
final and amazing bid of $500 was brought
to England by the celebrated Norwegian
violinist, Ole Bull, who, in the long line of
famous tiddlers may be placed between Pa
ganini aud SivOr, and the violin which he
brought with him to our shores known
among 'tidicuamanics" as the Spanish
Stradivarius, aud is Of the date OF 1851.
After this exceptionally interesting ipstru-
ment had been disposed of there was sold
for E!S0 Joseph Guarnerius Of 1873, and
another by the same maker or author" as
it is technically the etiquette to term a
manufacturer of fiddles, Tor f245 pounds.
This instrument was also dated 1898. A
violin of Carlo Bernonzi brought ESQ., one
by Jakob Stainer fi5, violin with the
aud, as "bonne bouche" vio-
loncello, formerly the property of George
ii. and of the make of Francisco RuIgeri.
or "Rugerius" was knocked down for 1880.
Recognizing the eternal fitness OF Butler'e
| aphorism, "For what is worth in anything
but so much money as twill brng?" We art
not prepared to stigmalze as inordnato the
prices attained by these old tiddles. The sew
en- lots brought an aggregate sum Of E1500
but there are amateurs in other branches o
"virtu" who will cheerfully give thrice tht
sum just named for bureau Of Boule ware
formerly the property of some French kne
or Queen, while thousand pounds would bt
readily offered for pair of old Scvres vases
of Rose Dubarry' or "Bleu du Roi :" ant
there are old Dresden figures that would still
be accounted cheap at u hundred guinea
apiece. AS FOX an unimpeachably genuin,
''grosse piece" of Palssy of of Henri DeuA
ware, only the wealthiest of collectors or th'
curator OF national museum would be abl
tn bid for such treasure. Objects quite a
beautiful in form, in 'potting" in color ant
in glazing can be and are syslemat, ,cally imi
tated and in Paris some years since ther
was u factory doing large business il
the fabrication OF sham antique Gre
mona fiddles but it is the rarity o
the original article quite as much a
its beauty that makes it precious +
the viltuoso. A reproduction by the photo
photographic progress of the First Folio O
Shakespeare's works is very interesting bu
what is its value in comparison with that Q
a First Folio Itself? First editions o
Cookers Arithmetic, of Mrs. Glasse's "Cook
cry Book" OF Dilly's Grammar, and Hoye'
"Games" are eagerly sought for, not fo
their literary value, but because they ar
scarce, and the first edition Of the late MIR.
Beckelt's Comic History OF England wi
command higher price in tue market tina
| u copy of the 1861 edition of Shelton's trar
station of don Quixote." A black -lette
"Chaucer" OF 1923 may fetch f5; cop
, of an edition of few years earlier will
: worth $40. AS regards Cremona fiddlei
r double or three times the sum realized q
the recent sale might have been obtained la
there been among the raritles belonging
: the gentleman deceased a single violin b
, Gasparo di Salo who seems to have mad
toward the end of the sixteenth century til
earliest of what may be called moder
violns. The world famed Cremona fiddle
are all Of late seventeenth and earl
eighteenth manufacture. The Amatis {
1 Cremona, lead the van as "authors of thes
Y wonderful instruments. Andrea Amati wa
!, the first to gain renown for his tiddes, an
t then came his sons Geronimo and Antoni,
0 and the son OF the former, Ncolo. Til
: prestige of the Amatis, however, is by SON
i 'cognoscenti'' considered TO have bee
: eclipsed by Antonio Stradivari, or Stradi'
l. arius, the traditions of whose exccllent
r were continued by the Guarneri and Rul
/. glcri families These extraordinary craft
= men, wiser than the lady in THE Qua
- dian" knew well enough whereabouts in
- fiddle the tune lay. According to the lear
= ed NJ. Otto, a first-ratc Cremona fiddle
u constructed in strict accordance with Il
Il rules of mathematics. The instrument col
a prizes SO distinct divisions authoritl
(. give 69--although in cheap violins the par
d are not so minuley subdivded. The bac
d neck, sides, and circles are of sycamore 4
y belly, base-bar, sounding post, and six block
l. of deal the finger.board aud tailpiece
,r ebony. A Crcmona fiddle should have
d strong reedy tone, something like that OF
clarionet but the tone of a Stainer or Stei
If er approaches that of flute