Violin
Maker
Peter Young
Date1778
Place MadePhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, North America
ModelStainer
SignedPrinted on paper label with decorative border: MADE by / PETER YOUNG / TRUM[PET] MAKER [IN Philadelphia]MarkingsLine on inside of top between f-hole notches.DescriptionThis violin is one of the earliest surviving American-made violins. Young worked in the English style and later returned to England after a period of working in America. According to Philip Kass, the instrument's donor, the date of 1778 was once visible on the label, but now faded. A violin of the same date by Young is preserved at the Yale University Collection of Musical Instruments, accession number 4725.1962. A third instrument, an English guittar, also survives.Top: two-piece, spruce cut off-the-quarter: narrow grain broadening to wide at the edges; wood pin through top into top block on bass side of center joint; two wood pins through top into bottom block on both sides of center joint
Back: one-piece, slab-cut maple: narrow, prominent, horizontal curl
Ribs: quarter-cut maple: narrow curl angled to left
Head and neck: maple: medium curl; inside of pegbox stained black; later, probably late 19th century
Arching: very high
Edging: high in center bouts
Purfling: wide
Varnish: dark red-brown with craquelure
Fingerboard: ebony; later
Nut: ebony; later
Tailpiece: ebony with nickel-silver wire saddle not extending to edges; mother-of-pearl and nickel-silver floral inlay on face with engraved decoration, filled with red and green ink; small mother-of-pearl dot inlaid on face near tailgut. Stored in case.
Tailgut: black plastic, stored in case
Pegs: four ebony with integral pins; head faces inlaid with mother-of-pearl rectangles with cut corners, the surfaces decoratively engraved, filled with red ink, and inlaid with green mastic dots; numerous mother-of-pearl eyes and rectangles inlaid along head edges; pin inlaid with mother-of-pearl eye engraved and filled with red ink; later, made in the Vogtland in late 19th century
Saddle: ebony; installed on its side; later; cut marks reveal original was narrower
Endpin: ebony with mother-of-pearl eye; later
F-holes: very curved wings
Linings: spruce
Corner blocks: spruce
Top block: spruce; later
Bottom block: spruce
Bassbar: spruce; very low heightDimensionsTotal violin length: 586 mm
Back length: 353 mm
Upper bout width: 160 mm
Center bout width: 104 mm
Lower bout width: 204 mm
Upper rib height: 30-31 mm
Center rib height: 30-31 mm
Lower rib height: 29-30 mm
Stop length: 200 mm
Vibrating string length: 337 mm
Neck length (bottom of nut to ribs): 133 mmProvenanceSold at Sotheby's Auction House, 3 November 1982, lot 386; purchased then by the donor, Philip J. Kass.
Published ReferencesPhilip Kass. "An American Dream." _The Strad_ 126, no. 1507 (November 2015): 29-30.
_The American Violin_ . American Federation of Violin and Bow Makers, 2016: 40-41.
Arianna Van Kley and Michael Suing. _Of Thee I Sing: Origin, Heritage, and Patriotism_. National Music Museum, 2026: 30-31.
Credit LineGift of Philip Kass, 2015
Object number15013
On View
On view
