An anonymous English Violin, Approximately 1880.

This charming violin features well selected tonewoods - a two piece 358mm back of irregularly flamed maple with matching ribs and headstock, with a tight grained spruce top which widens subtly towards the edges. English make, dating approximately to 1880, with a Strad 1713 label I don’t recognize as typical facsimile to any workshop.

The f-holes, well executed; wider wings at the upper eyes, and a consistent shape which terminates in smaller lower wings: proportionately relative to the larger lower eyes.

The C bouts are distinctive too, the lines of which are almost exaggerated by the corners: flared in appearance through the edge at the c bout and rounding into softer line into the upper bouts, lending an appearance of elongated yet elegant corners. The profile of the scroll is also decidedly English in its countenance. The volutes, concentric, with soft chamfers and deep channeling that concludes precisely into the rounded eye.

The overarching aesthetic, completed by the expertly inlaid purfling with a white of beech, demonstrating a pleasing curl to the points. This finial detail is called a bee sting. Of course, the most appealing detail is its voice: clear, colorful, and highly flexible with well defined overtones. At once, both immediately commanding and highly lyrical.