1704 - Violin "Betts"

1704ViolinoBetts a.jpg

Soundboard of spruce with fine vein, which widens towards the flanks, with a small insert in the original tailpiece. Back of two pieces of curly maple with broad curl, glued in a herringbone pattern with apex at the bottom. Ribs and scroll at wood similar to that of the fund, that in the scroll tends to be narrower.

Date and Place: 1704, Cremona
Label: Original
Length of body: 35.5 cm
Width, upper bouts: 16.8 cm
Width, center bouts: 10.8 cm
Width, lower bouts: 20.8 cm
Position: Washington (USA), American Library of Congress
Certificates: W. E. Hill & Sons, London
Scientific tests: Dendrochronological analysis by John C. Topham, Surrey: youngest ring is 1662. Metallic aura scan by Steven Sirr
Provenance: Arthur Betts 1830/52; John Bone 1852/59; Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume (Paris) 1859/61; Charles Wilmotte (Antwerp) 1861/73; C. G. Meier (London) 1873/78; George Hart 1878/86; Duc de Camposelice 1886/87; W.E. Hill & Sons 1891; Jacques Zweifel (Stuttgart) 1896; W.E. Hill & Sons 1898; Robert E. Brandt (Exeter); R. D. Waddell (Glasgow, Scotland) 1898/1923; Rudolph Wurlitzer Co. 1923/25; John Taylor Roberts (Hartford, Connecticut) 1925/34; Gertrude Clarke Whittall 1934/36; Library of Congress 1936
Bibliography specifies: Hart 1885; S. a. 1899 (II); Hill 1902; S. a. 1909 (IV); Piper 1923 (II); Wurlitzer 1925; Cenzato 1929; Balfoort 1945; Doring 1945; Jalovec 1952; Jalovec 1957; Henley 1961; Jalovec 1964; Boyden 1965; Goodkind 1972; Millant 1972; Wasinski 1975; Orcutt 1977; Mell 1979; Lewin 1980; Carlyss 1987; Davidoff 1987; Dilworth 1987; S. a. 1988; Hargrave 1989 (II); Gand 1994; Bein 1999; S. a. 1999; Kass 2006; Barabaschi 2010; Pollens 2010; Waddle 2010