Notes:

"Made in Milan in 1716, Bottesini bought this double bass after discovering it in a marionette theatre, where it had laid in a dark and dusty room since the death of its previous owner, the Milanese bassist Fiando. When Bottesini purchased the instrument it was in poor condition, but once cleaned up it was to accompany Bottesini throughout his life. Carlo Antonio Testore made this bass when he was 23 and it was clearly influenced by the late-17th century Milanese violin-making tradition, a time when the profession’s economy was very buoyant. Working until 1765, when he was 78, Carlo Antonio Testore was a more prolific maker than his father, Carlo Giuseppe Testore (c.1660-1716), and in later years his style could vary quite considerably from that of both his father and the Grancino family. "

The Master's Voice, Stefan Johann Krattenmacher, Double Bassist

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"It has been converted from a three-string to a four-string bass since its present owner, Mr. Claude Hobday, acquired it in the year 1894, through the instrumentality of the late William Ebsworth Hill. Bottesini's death occurred in 1889. The idea, which has frequently found its way into print, has long been current amongst musicians that Bottesini's solo bass was of the small (basso di camera) size ; and I must plead guilty to having held that notion myself until I was called upon to take the measurements. The figures, the more important of which are subjoined, tell a different tale, and will no doubt be a surprise to most players. Bottesini, it should be remembered, was, in a iiteral as well as a figurative sense, a very big man, and would naturally appear so alongside of any instrument not of unusual dimensions. Except in the matter of widths, which are a trifle under the average, his favourite bass is to all intents and purposes an ordinary full-sized specimen."

The Bottesini Testore, Towry Piper, The Strad, 1911, London