Notes:

"The larger - and as I believe older specimen - which appears on the left hand side of our plate, has been known to me since the early part of 1898, and was bought by its owner from the late William E. Hill, whose certificate of authenticity it carries, some three and forty years ago.

I may say at once that in the matter of tone quality this violin may well be classed amongst the very best examples of this or, indeed, any other Cremonese master of the classic period, and it goes without saying that its owner, a widely experienced and recognised judge of fiddle tone, is fully alive to its merits, and continues to regard it as his most cherished possession.. . .

The most remarkable feature about this particular violin, as it seems to me, is the form of the soundholes. I am unacquainted with any other specimen of del Gesù which exhibits ß's in this form, or anything nearly approximate to it, notwithstanding that, in this matter, his pattern varied enormously."

Joseph Guarneri (del Gesu), Towry Piper, The Strad, 1922, London