The Hellier Stradivarius of circa 1679 is a violin

Violin

The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....

 made by Antonio Stradivari

Antonio Stradivari

Antonio Stradivari was an Italian luthier and a crafter of string instruments such as violins, cellos, guitars, violas, and harps. Stradivari is generally considered the most significant artisan in this field. The Latinized form of his surname, Stradivarius, as well as the colloquial, "Strad", is...

 of Cremona

Cremona

Cremona is a city and comune in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po River in the middle of the Pianura Padana . It is the capital of the province of Cremona and the seat of the local City and Province governments...

, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

. It derives its name from the Hellier family

The Wodehouse

The Wodehouse is a country house near Wombourne, Staffordshire, notable as the seat of the Georgian landscape designer and musicologist Sir Samuel Hellier and, a century later, Colonel Thomas Bradney Shaw-Hellier, director of the Royal Military School of Music. For almost 200 years the family...

, who might well have bought it directly from the luthier

Luthier

A luthier is someone who makes or repairs lutes and other string instruments. In the United States, the term is used interchangeably with a term for the specialty of each maker, such as violinmaker, guitar maker, lute maker, etc...

 himself.

The Hellier Stradivarius

Stradivarius

The name Stradivarius is associated with violins built by members of the Stradivari family, particularly Antonio Stradivari. According to their reputation, the quality of their sound has defied attempts to explain or reproduce, though this belief is controversial...

has had a convoluted ownership history. It seems to have been in the possession of the Hellier family from the beginning of the 18th century. Sir Samuel Hellier, High Sheriff of Staffordshire

High Sheriff of Staffordshire

This is a list of the High Sheriffs of Staffordshire.The High Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the High Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most of the responsibilities associated with the post have been transferred...

 1745-1749, brought the violin to England, and through various wills it was kept in the family until 1880, about 180 years.

In 1880, The Hellier was sold by Colonel Shaw-Hellier, commandant of the Royal Military School of Music

Royal Military School of Music

The Royal Military School of Music in Twickenham, west London, trains musicians for the British Army's twenty-nine bands. It is part of the Corps of Army Music...

, to George Crompton of Manchester, who, in 1885, sold it to the Hill firm on behalf of Dr. Charles Oldham of Brighton

Brighton

Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...

, a medical man with violin-playing talent. Shaw-Hellier repurchased the violin in 1890. Upon his death in 1910, his nephew sold the violin back to the Hill firm, who in turn sold it to Oscar Bondy of Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

. Bondy kept it until 1925, when he sold it to the Hills for £5,000. Hill then sold it to H. E. Morris of Newmarket, formerly editor of the Shanghai Daily News

North China Daily News

North China Daily News was an English-language newspaper in Shanghai, China, called the most influential foreign newspaper of its time.The paper was founded as the weekly North-China Herald and was first published on 3 August 1850. Its founder, British auctioneer Henry Shearman , died in 1856...

; upon his death in 1944, it was sold to Rembert Wurlitzer, the famous New York violin dealer, yet again through the Hill firm.

In 1956, Wurlitzer sold the violin to Henry Hottinger of New York, who then sold it to Wurlitzer's daughter in 1965. She kept it until 1979, when it was sold to Thomas M. Roberts of Memphis, through another dealer, Alfredo Halegua of the Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

 Violin Gallery. In 1998 Roberts sold the violin through Halegua to Dr. Herbert R. Axelrod

Herbert R. Axelrod

Herbert Richard Axelrod is a tropical fish expert, publisher of pet books, and entrepreneur. In 2005 he was sentenced in U.S. court to 18 months in prison for tax fraud.-Early life:...

, the ichthyologist and publishing entrepreneur later jailed for tax fraud.

A. Philips Hill has called this violin "one of the finest Stradivaris in existence"; it is currently held by the Smithsonian Institution

Smithsonian Institution

The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...

.