labelled Laurentius Storioni fecit Cremonæ 1778
length of back 13¹⁵/₁₆in., 35.4cm.

Documents
The certificate of Beare Violins Ltd., Kent, dated 11^th October 2022
The certificate of Emil Herrmann, New York, dated 23^rd May 1947
A letter from John Hornsteiner, Chicago, dated 7^th April 1940

Provenance
William J. Starr (1923-2020) was an educator, performer, composer, and conductor. He studied at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, receiving a Master's Degree in Music with a Performer's Certificate in Violin. He served as an officer in the US Navy during World War II, practising in the hold of his ship and performing over the radio for US troops in the Pacific.

He bought his Storioni violin from a shop in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1947. It had previously been in the collection of the Kansas City violin maker and collector Louis Rosenfeld.

Bill performed as a soloist, concertmaster, and conductor with regional orchestras in New York, Colorado, and Tennessee. He taught at the University of Tennessee and later at the University of Colorado. He was one of the first American violinists to observe the work of Shinichi Suzuki in Japan and became a world-wide ambassador for the Suzuki method. He travelled the world teaching students, training teachers, and performing. From 2015 to 2022, the violin was played professionally by his daughter in the Bergen Philharmonic.