Violin branded “Made in London”

Description

During the inter-war period, in response to the growth in imported German workshop violins, various English music and violin houses turned to domestic manufacture.  Firms such as Boosey and Hawkes, Murdoch & Co., the Stainer Manufacturing Co., George Withers, W. E. Hill & Sons and others employed local violinmakers supervising semi-skilled workers who mass-produced these instruments.  This particular violin is unlabelled and eludes narrowing down to a particular company.  It is definitely not a product of the aforementioned firms, however it may have been produced for Barnes & Mullins for the export trade to the Colonies.  The violin was acquired from an elderly lady who stated that her father bought it new in Auckland.  In very good lightly restored condition, it is set up by Yuri Djachenko and David Patterson with Evah Pirazzi strings.