Violin
Maker
John Robinson
Date1773
Place MadeUnited States, North America
Place MadeEngland, Europe
ModelStainer
Serial No.none
SignedPainted in black ink on back under button: John / RobinsonMarkingsWritten in black ink on brown paper label: John Robinson / 1773 / Repaired in 1816 and in 1873
Written in pencil on inside of top, upper treble bout, spruce cleats over some of the letters: Repaired / by J B Treat / Boston March / 187[odd number form, possibly “3” or “8”]
Written in pencil on inside of top, lower treble bout: Made by / Jhon [sic] Robinson / in 1773 / Repaired by / [“Walter” or “Nathan”] Berket. / in 1816 [the ones with fairly long flourishes at top]
DescriptionThe maker of this violin, John Robinson, is not known, but the instrument is in the English style and it could have been made in the UK or in the American Colonies. Repair labels in the interior document its presence in the United States by 1816 in New England.
John Robinson has not been traced, as it was a common name in both England and colonial America. Walter or Nathan Berket has also not been definitively traced. There is a Mary Berket (aged between 25 and 44) listed in Salem, Massachusetts in the 1800 census and a Walter Burket (aged over 45) listed at Ferrisburg, Addison County, Maine in the 1820 census.
Two Joseph B. Treats, a father and son, were listed in the 1880 census in Boston. The father, born in Connecticut ca. 1821, is listed as a musician, and the son, born ca. 1865 in Massachusetts, was listed as running a music store. Joseph B. Treat is listed in the 1884 Malden and Everett Directory as a musical instrument maker with a shop at 179 Washington, house at 8 James. Joseph B. Treat, Jr. is listed in the same directory as working at a rubber works and living with his father. In 1890 Joseph B. Treat, either the father or son, is listed in the Boston directory as a musical instrument maker at 523 Washington, Bell Rock. In 1892 Joseph B. Treat is listed in the Somerville, Massachusetts directory as a musician at 19 Florence. (Somerville is where Charles Stromberg moved his business by 1918, making drums.) [See drum NMM 10045. snare drum by J. B. Treat for Thompson and Odell, Boston, 1905. Paper label affixed inside shell, visible through vent hole: THE CELEBRATED / "ARTIST DRUM." / MADE BY / J.B. TREAT., followed by a long advertisement by Thompson and Odell, dated November 1905.] In the 1910 census, a Joseph B. Treat, born ca. 1865, with his father born in Connecticut, is listed in Greenfield, Franklin County, Massachusetts, as a driller in a machine factory. Joseph B. Treat also appears in the Greenfield directory in 1904 as a machinist living at 7 Conway. In 1908 and 1909 his employer was W. B. Co. and he lived at 98 Wells. In 1909 he is also listed as treasurer of the United Order of the Golden Cross, Deerfield Valley Commandery, No. 871. This is a fraternal benefit society founded in New England in 1876 with a temperance bent. In the 1912 directory he is listed under professional occupation painters and paper hangers, as Wells ext and 1913 at 137 Wells. In 1912 and 1913 he had a student border named Lovell E. Wood.
Top: three-piece spruce cut off-the-quarter: fine grain
Back: one-piece maple cut off-the-quarter: very narrow curl descending very slightly from treble to bass; patch and worm hole near lower treble corner, under varnish
Ribs: maple cut off-the-quarter: very narrow curl, angled to left in lower bouts and upper treble bout; one-piece lower rib
Head and neck: maple: very narrow curl; neck re-angled at heel
Arching: full and high
Purfling: double incised lines
Varnish: dark red-brown
Fingerboard: ebony; later
Nut: ebony; in case
Tailpiece: Ebony tailpiece with black-stained dark brown hardwood saddle; in case
Tailgut: purple gut; in case
Pegs: four rosewood; later
Saddle: ebony; narrow; flat upper edge; finished with same varnish as body
Endpin: ebony; later
F-holes: curved and tapered upper wings; wide stems; small notches
Linings: willow linings continue over corner blocks; later
Corner blocks: spruce
Top block: spruce; nail hole through block into neck heel; possibly later
Bottom block: spruce; possibly later
DimensionsBack length: 355 mm
Upper bout width: 163 mm
Center bout width: 109 mm
Lower bout width: 202 mm
Upper rib height: 31-32 mm
Center rib height: 31-32 mm
Lower rib height: 31-33 mm
Total violin length: 588 mm
Stop length: 190 mm
Vibrating string length: 324 mm
Current neck length (bottom of nut to ribs): 131mm
Original neck length (bottom of nut to ribs): 128mm
ProvenanceFrom the workshop of Frank Hubbard, harpsichord maker, who worked for a time with baroque violins and bows.
Gift of Gift of Diane Hubbard, Weston, Massachusetts, 2005.
Credit LineGift of Diane Hubbard, 2005
Object number10834
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