The “King George” violin is named after the British King George III (1730–1820), a lover of fine arts who played the violin himself. It has not been recorded how the violin came to the royal court, though according to some sources, that King George 1 bought the instrument, or that he had commission­ ed it from Stradivari. In any case, his grandson George III, a dilletante of fine arts and music, enjoyed an extensive musical education under the tutorship of the violinist Johann Peter Solomon. In 1800 George III gifted the instrument to his loyal Scottish officer C. Laffin whereby it acquired the name “Scottish”.

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On 18 June 1815, this officer fell in the Battle of Waterloo, and apparently the instrument was found undamaged at his side. His heirs thereupon gave ­ it for sale to the violin maker Charles Maucotel (1807–1860). In 1852 the instrument found its way to Germany and came into the possession of Bernhardt Molique (1802–1869). Molique had studied with Ludwig Spohr (1784–1859) and Pietro Rovelli (1793–1838) and it was the latter who recommended him to a position at the Munich court.

 

However, in 1849, Molique immigrated to London securing a position at the Royal Academy as professor of composition. In 1866 he returned to Germany where he died in 1869.​ In that same year, Molique’s student Baron Theodor von Dreyfus (1839–1899) acquired the violin. He was a passionate amateur musician and father-in-law of the conductor Felix Weingartner. It was in his possession until 1889.

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The “King George” was then bought by the German violin maker August Riechers (1836–1893) who sold it to a sponsoring organization in London. This organization in turn gifted it to the German violinist in Berlin, Waldemar Meyer (1853–1940) who had been a student of Joseph Joachim. In 1920, the Danish violinmaker company Hjorth in Copenhagen bought the “King George”, selling it in 1922 to the Danish violinist-pedagogue Gunna Breuning-Storm (1891–1966). She sent it to the London instrument dealer Hill for verification. It was verified as authentic.

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In 1929 the Berlin violinmaker/instrument dealer Emil Herrmann bought the violin. Worldwide during the 20th century, his workshop was recognized as the most important and reputable of its kind. The company relocated completely to New York in 1925. In 1929 the “King George” was sold to the mother of the Japanese ‘Wunderkind’ Koichi Kishi (1909–1937) who gifted it to her son. In all probability, the “King George” was the first Stradivarius in Japanese ownership. Koichi Kishi, who had studied with the composer Paul Hindemith and the conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler also made a name for himself as a

composer and conductor. In the latter capacity he conducted a concert of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in 1935.

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Emil Herrmann who, in his day, enjoyed exclusive trade in musical instrument with Japan, was able to re-purchase the “King George” from Kishi’s heirs. It thus returned to New York. Since the early 1960s this instrument has belonged to our foundation.