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‘To my surprise I found it to be a splendid Strad’ - From the Archive: April 1925

11 April 2025

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In his recently published memoir, the Scottish instrument dealer David Laurie (1833–97) recalls finding a Stradivari cello in the attic of one of his friends, and obtaining it for a song

My friend N. F. Vuillaume had removed to a large self-contained house. His new house was a large one of four flats, but only partly furnished, he himself occupying two rooms, while the attics, which were cramped and inconvenient, were arranged as workrooms for his man Nicholas. In these attics, between the heat in summer and the intense cold in winter, poor Nicholas put in rather a rough time. I called one afternoon to see M. Vuillaume but he had gone out, and no one knew when he would be back, so I mounted the four flights of stairs to have a chat with Nicholas…

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