Music & Musical Instruments

This violin was made by Antonio Stradivari in Cremona, Italy, about 1700. It is the Greffuhle violin with a two-piece table of spruce with even medium fine grain broadening toward the sides, one-piece back of maple with narrow, nearly horizontal figure, ribs of similar maple, modern maple neck terminating in the original pegbox and scroll of similar maple, and golden red-brown varnish. This instrument has an original printed label, with altered date:

Antonius Stradiuarius Cremonenfis
Faciebat Anno 1709

[*709 handwritten]

A brief history of the Greffuhle is cited in this excerpt from a letter in 1960 to Hug & Co. in Switzerland from W. E. Hill & Sons, the highly respected British firm of violin dealers and experts.

The history of the Stradivari violin dated 1709, known as the “Greffuhle”, is, as far as it is known to us, as follows. The particulars given are from the notes made by the late Mr. Alfred Hill, who had known the instrument since boyhood days.

About 1880 Laurie took the instrument to Paris and sold it through the intermediary of Gand to the Visconte de Greffuhle in 1882. It was sold by the Visconte to Caressa in 1910 and later passed into the possession of the firm Hamma & Co. of Stuttgart. The firm of Hamma in turn sold it to Herr Walter of Bohemia, and in later years he sold it to your firm. Reference to this violin is made in “Violins and Violin Makers” by J. Pearce.

Hug & Co. sold the Greffuhle in 1962 to Carl Tannewitz of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Jacques Français bought the violin at auction in 1977 and sold it to Herbert Axelrod in 1979.

There is a compilation of measurements of the Greffuhle violin by Gabriela Guadalajara available from the collections files. Computer Tomography (CT) scans were made of the entire instrument, courtesy of Bruno Frohlich, Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution.

The Greffuhle violin is part of The Herbert R. Axelrod Quartet of Decorated Instruments by Antonio Stradivari, consisting of the Ole Bull violin,1687; the Greffuhle violin, c.1700; the Axelrod viola, 1695; and the Marylebone violoncello, 1688.

This roller organ roll was likely made by the Munroe Organ Reed Company in Worcester, Mashachusetts, around 1880-1883. It was sold by the J. Howard Foote Company in New York and Chicago. It is a perforated Clariona roll, No. 19, 31 feet. The roll plays the following tunes:

Little Beauty Waltz
Bella Waltz
Home Waltz

John Howard Foote (1833-1896) was a musical instrument dealer with shops in New York City and Chicago. This Clariona roll (19) listed in an 1880s J. Howard Foote catalog, sold for $1.40.

This kamanja was made by an unknown maker in the Caucasus, probably 19th century. It has a one-piece table of pine with “slit” soundholes burned into the wood along with crude ornamental geometric designs in upper and lower bouts, the body, neck and “leaf” pegbox are fashioned from one piece of softwood; body painted a reddish-brown color; table is unvarnished.

The Kamanja has Islamic origins beginning in the 10th century and is popular in Turkey and the Black Sea region. This instrument has a long, slender box shape with three strings fastened at a leaf-shaped pegbox.

This ophicleide was made by made by Louis and Münchs in Paris, France, around 1815 to 1850. It is a 9-keyed ophicleide in C, made of brass. This instrument is engraved:

Louis et Münchs
a Paris

This ophicleide was acquired from the collection of Leopoldo Franciolini in 1892. Leopoldo Franciolini (1844–1920) was an Italian antique dealer who flourished in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He is remembered as a fraudster who sold faked and altered historical musical instruments.

This oboe was made by Wolfgang Kuss in Vienna, Austria, around 1811-1834. It is an 11-keyed oboe, made of boxwood with ivory ferrules and brass keys. The oboe is stamped:

Kuss
Wein
3

This oboe was acquired from the collection of Leopoldo Franciolini in 1892. Leopoldo Franciolini (1844–1920) was an Italian antique dealer who flourished in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He is remembered as a fraudster who sold faked and altered historical musical instruments.

This roller organ was likely made by the Munroe Organ Reed Company in Worcester, Mashachusetts, about 1882. It was sold by the J. Howard Foote Company in New York and Chicago. It is a Clariona model, Serial #988252, made of walnut with 14 brass reeds. This instrument plays 8" wide perforated paper rolls and operates by a hand cranked vacuum system. Printed on a paper label:

THE REED-PIPE CLARIONA

This instrument features the following patents:

U. S. Patent #73080 dated January 7, 1868, by Jonas Berger for an improvement in key-coupling for musical instruments.

U. S. Patent #203257 dated May 7, 1878, by Merritt Gally for improvements in musical instruments. Reissue #8856 dated August 19, 1879.

U. S. Patent #222030 dated November 25, 1879, by Merritt Gally for improvements in musical instruments.

U. S. Patent #236275 dated January 4, 1881, by Frank Stone for improvements in valve devices for organ-bellows.

U. S. Patent #252844 dated January 24, 1882, by Henry B. Morris and Lucien A. Brott assignors to The Autophone Company for improvements in mechanical musical instruments.

John Howard Foote (1833-1896) was a musical instrument dealer with shops in New York City and Chicago. This make and style of reed pipe clariona as listed in an 1880s J. Howard Foote catalog, sold for $8.00.

This roller organ roll was likely made by the Munroe Organ Reed Company in Worcester, Mashachusetts, around 1880-1883. It was sold by the J. Howard Foote Company in New York and Chicago. It is a perforated paper Clariona roll, No. 15, 19-3/4 feet. The roll plays the following tunes:

Watch on the Rhine
Tramp, Tramp, Tramp
Home Sweet Home
Yankee Doodle

John Howard Foote (1833-1896) was a musical instrument dealer with shops in New York City and Chicago. This Clariona roll (#15) listed in an 1880s J. Howard Foote catalog, sold for 90 cents.

This button is from the San Diego Jazz Party, in 1992. The button is a made of white paper with black and red ink covered with a clear film, on a round two-piece metal button with a pin back. The button serves as an attendee identifier to the SDJP. The button is printed:

SAN DIEGO JAZZ PARTY
No 0370
1992

The San Diego Jazz Party (SDJP) is an annual weekend-long event featuring public live performances of traditional jazz music. It is a non-profit organization that also provides scholarships for young jazz musicians at the high school or college level. The SDJP was originally presented in Downtown San Diego by Bill and Beverly Muchnic, in 1988.

Floyd Levin (1922-2007) was a Los Angeles textile manufacturer who turned his passion for jazz into a second career as an influential jazz journalist and historian. His numerous reviews, profiles, and articles were published in magazines such as Down Beat, Jazz Journal International, Metronome, and American Rag. He also authored Classic Jazz: A Personal View of the Music and the Musicians. Items in this collection (2011.3086) were acquired from Levin’s attendance at Jazz Festivals, conferences, and other music events.

This banjo was made by William Boucher, Jr. in Baltimore, Maryland in 1846. It is a Five-String Fretless Banjo, with a wood shell, red painted metal hoop, 6 brackets, and friction pegs. Stamped on back of the neck:

W.BOUCHER.JR
BALTIMORE

William Boucher was a drum maker and musical instrument dealer in Baltimore, Maryland. He became the first commercial maker of banjos, perhaps through his association with the celebrated minstrel banjoist Joel Walker Sweeney.

His instruments were important in standardizing the form of the banjo in its transition from a homemade rural instrument to urban commercial manufacture. The basic shape and string arrangement has changed little up to the present day. Boucher’s design copied important features of earlier home-made African American instruments: the skin head, short thumb string and fretless neck. He added a scrolled peghead similar to those used by guitar makers W. Stauffer and C. F. Martin, and replaced the traditional gourd body with a thin, bentwood rim construction with screw-tightening brackets similar to that used for drumheads. Boucher’s innovations were well-adapted to commercial mass-production and urban musical tastes and played a large part in the subsequent worldwide enthusiasm for the banjo.

These commercial “improvements” were never adopted by many traditional rural musicians, who continued to make good sounding instruments that were entirely adequate for their musical needs from locally available materials, at little or no expense.

This button is from the Queen Mary Jazz Festival in Long Beach, California, in 1980. It is made of white paper with red ink covered with a clear film, on a two-piece metal button with a pin back. The button is printed:

UNITED JAZZ CLUBS OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
1980
5TH ANNUAL
QUEEN [crown] MARY
JAZZ FESTIVAL
SUN. NOV.30, 1980
TO
HELP
OURKIDS!
$7.50
DONATION
VARIETY CLUB OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA TENT 25

Floyd Levin (1922-2007) was a Los Angeles textile manufacturer who turned his passion for jazz into a second career as an influential jazz journalist and historian. His numerous reviews, profiles, and articles were published in magazines such as Down Beat, Jazz Journal International, Metronome, and American Rag. He also authored Classic Jazz: A Personal View of the Music and the Musicians. Items in this collection (2011.3086) were acquired from Levin’s attendance at Jazz Festivals, conferences, and other music events.

This fife was made by Horstman Brothers in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, around 1862-1875. It is made of rosewood with brass ferrules. The fife is stamped:

HORSTMAN BRO'S

This music box disc was made by Regina Music Box Co. in Rahway, New Jersey, around 1897-1899. It is Regina Disc #4365 - Faust "All Hail" (cavatina), by Charles Gounod. This disc is playable in a Regina Disc Music Box that can accommodate a 27” diameter disc.

This disc features the following patents:

U. S. Patent #417649, dated December 17, 1889 by Oskar Paul Lochmann for a music plate for mechanical instruments.

U. S. Patent #500374, dated June 27, 1893 by Gustav A. Brachhausen and Paul Riessner for a note-plate for music boxes.

This cornet was made by Martin P. Tomchik & Sons in Brunn, Austria around 1867 to 1884. It is a B-flat/A cornet made of highly engraved silver plated brass and has 3 Périnet piston valves. This cornet is inscribed:

M.P. TOMSCHIK & SONs BRUNN-AUSTRIA
MANUFACTURY OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS

This snare drum was made by Rose, Morris & Co. in London, England, around 1968-1970. It is a Clansman model with a black lacquer wood shell, chrome-plated metal flange hoops, a white vinyl top head and a clear vinyl bottom head, and a metal snare. There are 6 chrome-plated metal ribs attached to the shell covering the metal tensioning rods. The maker’s medallion around the vent hole is inscribed:

CLANSMAN
ROSE, MORRIS & CO.
MADE IN ENGLAND

This drum was used by a member of the United States Air Force Pipe Band. In 1950, the band was formed as part of the United States Air Force Drum and Bugle Corps. A separate Air Force Pipe Band was formed in 1960, and by 1970, the pipe band was disbanded.