A FAMOUS EDINBURGH FIDDLE.

Otago Witness, 14 December 1893, Page 41

A FAMOUS EDINBURGH FIDDLE.

There is a violin now in the collection of an Edinburgh gentleman for which he gave £2000 a year or two pgo ! Two thousand pounds for a viol'n ! Just think of it I Of course the instrument is the work of Stradivarius, the greatest violin-maker who ever lived. But more than that, it has an interesting — even romantic — pedigree, which always adds enormously to the value of these old instruments. When the sons of Stradivarius died, this particular violin was sold to a collector named Count Salabue, who kept it as long as he lived. Then a certain Luigi Tarisio got on the track of the priceless gem, bought it, and hid it away as a miser hides gold. He wculd not show it even to his nearest friends. Charles Reade,. the novelist, was one of his intimates, but even he was not allowed the privilege of looking upon the treasure, lest perhaps he might make a tempting offer.

At last the eccentric Tarisio was found one morniDg dead among his old violins, and three months later the star of the collection was bought by Vuillaume, the celebrated French dealer. So much did he prize the instrument, that when the Franco-German war broke out he buried it in a damp-proof, air-tight box, and kept it underground until peace had been restored. At length he, too, died, and the violin passed to his daughter, Madame Alard. When madame went the way of all flesh the instrument came into the open market, and Mr R. Crawford, of Trinity, Edinburgh, bought it for the sum already named — the highest figure ever paid for a violin. Messrs Hill, of New Bond street, through whom the purchase was made, wrote at the tjme :— •" It is the fiddle of Europe, of fabulous newness of appearance and state of preservation. It is a famous possession, and absolutely unique, and the names of its possessors will certainly be handed down to posterity." The varnish, which is acknowlsdged to contain something of the lost secret, looks as fresh as if it had been put on a week ago; and as to the tone, Herr Joachim declares that it surpasses that of all other violins he has ever heard. — Boys.