This instrument was manufactured in the last years of Stradivari’s life, as confirmed by the original label, which it still bears. The name ‘Scotland University’ derives from the fact that a former owner of the violin, Mr. George D. N. Neill of Drumlea, Greenock, in the West-Central Lowlands of Scotland, bequeathed it to a Scottish University. It seems apparent that the ninety-year-old Stradivari was helped by his son Francesco in the fabrication of this instrument, as well as in others crafted in this period, like the ‘Ames’ and the ‘Habeneck’.
More information: Antonio Stradivari Set 1, Volume 4, Page 278