Violin
Date1850-1880 ca.
Place MadeUnited States, North America
Place MadeEurope
Serial No.none
SignednoneMarkings(see photo in file)
Handwritten in ink on paper label, on upper treble rib, under present lining: Mennonite Made in 1768. Carried to / Russia in 1817. Brought to the / United States in 1856. Purchased / from his Grand Son, and remod- / -eled by me in 1898. E. G. Smith / at least 130 years / old at this time. Vermillion, S. D.
Written in pencil on inside of back, upper bass bout: F. #
Bridge stamped: VUILLAUME
DescriptionTop: two-piece, quarter-cut spruce: medium grain broadening toward the flanks; knot in upper bass bout
Back: two-piece, slab-cut boxelder: slight bird's-eye figure; hardwood dowel through button on treble side of center joint; hardwood dowel through back into bottom block on treble side of center joint
Ribs: slab-cut and semi-slab cut acacia
Head and neck: beech
Purfling: none
Varnish: golden; probably later
Fingerboard: stained pearwood
Nut: ebony
Tailpiece: ebony; steel fine tuner; black-painted brass fine tuner
Tailgut: red gut
Pegs: four ebony with mother-of-pearl eyes
Saddle: ebony
Endpin: ebony with mother-of-pearl eye
F-holes: no inner points on f-hole wings; undercut, more deeply at eyes
Linings: spruce; later; slightly overlap corner blocks
Corner blocks: spruce; small
Top block: integral with neck; platform of glue and wood shavings added between block and back
Other: Circular saw marks visible on inside and outside of ribs
DimensionsBack length: 343 mm
Total Violin length: 570 mm
Upper bout width: 157 mm
Stop length: 188 mm
Center bout width: 106 mm
Vibrating string length: 312 mm
Lower bout width: 191 mm
Neck length (nut to ribs): 123 mm
Upper rib height: 27-28 mm
Center rib height: 27-28 mm
Lower rib height: 27-29 mm
ProvenanceArne B. Larson Collection, Vermillion, South Dakota, 1979.
Published ReferencesAndré P. Larson, "Gallery I Nears Completion – Displays American Musical Instruments," Shrine to Music Museum Newsletter 2, No. 1 (April 1975), p. 2.
Credit LineArne B. Larson Collection, 1979
Object number01145
On View
Not on view
1850-1890 ca.
1625-1630 ca.
1750-1850 ca.
