The violin sat on top of my parents' corner china cabinet for years and it was a wonderful memory of my father but now the cabinet and other items are getting a new life with Kerry and Roger's daughter and son-in-law....so glad they are taking things we can't really use anymore!
And I felt it time that the violin was played again so I donated it to the Vancouver Academy of Music. They were thrilled to get it and I know my father would be pleased that some kid will play it rather than it just gathering dust. My father went quite far in violin and played in the second violin section of the Vancouver Symphony. That didn't last long as he told me "playing second fiddle was very boring".
I hated taking piano lessons but one pleasure was when my Dad accompanied me which he was always pleased to do. Since I had "talent" my parents had big plans for me to go to Toronto to study at the Royal Conservatory and stay with a good friend of my spinster aunt. It sounded like a fate worse than death. I wanted to be a foreign correspondent travelling the world and filing stories from exotic places! When I was about 14 yrs old, my parents reluctantly allowed me to quit piano. I began playing the trumpet in the school band. That was fun. Although my dream was to play the accordion which I did when I first retired but the teacher was awful so quit.
We found out a bit of information about the violin maker, Archibald S. Hill. It seems he had a fairly good reputation. Not long a bow of his was being advertised for $1500. It will be interesting to see what the evaluation will come in at.
http://www.tipper-violins.com/pdf/violin_bows/RKT-1311hill.pdf
