I purchased this instrument in London in the year 1861. It had belonged
to Sir W. Curtis, a director of the East India Company.
There is an anecdote of George the Fourth, that, as he played the
violoncello, and wanted a quartette by Amati, and of course of the best,
he applied to Sir W. Curtis, who sometimes played with him, and was
financially his creditor in large sums. On the king’s inquiring if he
would sell his violin, he replied that his majesty could not afford to
buy it, as he did not wish to see him sink deeper in debt. From Sir W.
Curtis the violin passed into the hands of a Mr. Oliphant, also an East
India director. I purchased it from his son. Mr. Plowden, of London, a
violin collector of great judgment, was much annoyed on finding I had
become the owner of the violin. He pronounced it the finest specimen of
Nicholas Amati in the world, and declared that he had waited forty years
for the chance of being its possessor. He further offered in its place
the choice of any two violins from his collection.