IS IT A PRICELESS VIOLIN?

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXII, Issue 19358, 13 July 1925, Page 5

IS IT A PRICELESS VIOLIN?

BOUGHT FOR £2. I MAY BE WORTH MANY THOUSANDS. GOULBURN, Juno 28. Forty years ago, Mr W. Shopherd, an fold resident of Goulburn, walked into I a second-hand shop at Burrowa, and paid the. Jewish occupant £2 for a violin. To-day the instrument is believed to be a Grand Amati, which, if proved to be genuine, will bo worth thousands of pounds. The instrument came to light through the mention of an old violin in a local newspaper. The owner, who always has been under the impression that it was a valuable instrument, I was induced to bring the treasure forward. : The violin bears the inscription I “Nicolaus Arnatus fecit in Cremona 11645.” and this has strengthened Ibo belief that it is a coveted Grand Amati. If genuine, it was made by Nicholas Amati, a member of tho famous Italian family of violin-makers, whose pupil Antonio Stradivari, finally settled the Cremona typo of violin, which has been generally followed. Genuine Stradivarius instruments, world famous for beauty of tone and design, have been sold for fabulous prices in recent years. Mr Shopherd is convinced that it must be a very old instrument, as. although he has made very little use nf it, the neck is very much worn, the finger spaces being impressed deeply into tho wood.