This violin was patented by Sylvanus J. Talbott of Milford, New Hampshire in 1887, U.S. Patent #375,224. The patent application describes an instrument with “a number of strings,” fitted over a tapering cylindrical body with flat back. In Talbott’s Patent, he describes the instrument saying “I preferably use 15 strings,” although the patent model itself bears 16. The instrument is very similar in style to the Chinese la ch’in. There are two identical instruments in the collections of the Musical Division of the Metropolitan Museum in New York City and the National Music Museum in Vermillion, South Dakota. Catalog #4821 in the National Music Museum collections bears an oval stamp: "PATENTED / ALEXANDER / VIOLIN/ Dec. 20th 1887."
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