Talbott Patented Violin
date: label: Date made
content: 1887 - 1890
name: label: patentee
content: Talbott, Sylvanus J.
notes: label: Description
content: This violin was patented by Sylvanus J. Talbott of Milford, New Hampshire in 1887, U.S. Patent #375,224. The patent application describes an instrument with “a number of strings,” fitted over a tapering cylindrical body with flat back. In Talbott’s Patent, he describes the instrument saying “I preferably use 15 strings,” although the patent model itself bears 16. The instrument is very similar in style to the Chinese la ch’in. There are two identical instruments in the collections of the Musical Division of the Metropolitan Museum in New York City and the National Music Museum in Vermillion, South Dakota. Catalog #4821 in the National Music Museum collections bears an oval stamp: "PATENTED / ALEXANDER / VIOLIN/ Dec. 20th 1887."
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: Place Made
content: United States: New Hampshire, Milford
setName: label: See more items in
content: Culture and the Arts: Musical Instruments
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content: Music & Musical Instruments
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content: Violins
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Mrs. John Crosby Brown
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MI.231114
label: catalog number
content: 231114
label: accession number
content: 42736
label: patent number
content: 375,224
objectType: label: Object Name
content: violin
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood, pine (body material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal, iron (tuning pins material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood, maple (foot material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 23 1/4 in x 5 1/2 in x 3 in; 59.055 cm x 13.97 cm x 7.62 cm
label: Measurements
content: body: 17 7/8 in; 45.4025 cm