A MARVELLOUS VIOLIN.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 57, 29 August 1911, Page 4

A MARVELLOUS VIOLIN.

The "Emperor" Strad on which Knbelik plays k the violin which Joachim declared to be the finest in existence. Kubelik paid as much as £.5000 for it, and he declares that he is not inclined to part with it for double that amount. This marvellous instrument is nearly 200 years old, and has not been played upon in public fox a century; but, notwithstanding this great age, it looks as fresh as if it had but. yesterday left the hands ofAntonio Stradivarius, the immortal violin maker of Cremona. For over forty years the "Emperor" Strad remained untouched and silent in the collection of Mr George Haddock, the well known connoisseur of Leeds. When the Haddock collection came under the hammer, it was hoped that many of those flawless speefc mens of the best art of Stradivarius would find a resting place in one of our national collections, but it was not to be; and, after all, to what better use can a fiddle be put than in delighting mankind by being played upon in public by virtuosi? There is only one other "violin that can be compared with Kubelik's Strad, and that is the one which Paganini left to the city of Genoa, and for which as much as £IO,OOO has been offered. This masterpiece, which rests in Genoa's Municipal Palace, is not a Strad, as has been stated, but a Guaroerius; therefore, Kubelik's instrument is without a rival of its own particular make. The number of Strads now in existence is about 000, and their prices average from £SOO to £ll5OO apiece.