This violin belongs to Stradivari’s ‘Golden Period’ and bears an original label that reads ‘Antonius Stradivarius Cremonensis Faciebat Anno 1711 AS’. The instrument is named after one of its former owners, the luthier Pierre Vogelweith, who was born in 1909 in Ribeauvillé, in Alsace, France, and had a workshop in Strasbourg until 1968. Herbert K. Goodkind listed the instrument under the name ‘Hamma’, whereas in the catalogue of the Swiss auction house Galerie Fischer of Lucerne it was also recorded with an entirely different name, ‘Prince Boissière’. Unfortunately it has never been possible to verify whether or not the ‘Vogelweith’ is related to the collection of fine instruments belonging to Mr. Boissier, a gentleman who resided in Geneva in the middle of the 19th century and who owned an eponymous 1713 Stradivari violin that now belongs to the Conservatory of Music in Madrid, Spain.
More information: Antonio Stradivari Set 1, Volume 3, Page 64