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An annual event that attracts hundreds of visitors to Beaver County is the Hookstown Grange Fair, with its color, excitement and entertainment.
One of the features of the fair is the antique exhibits presided over by John N. Mercer. In addition to being a fancier of antiques, Mercer owns two violins which he values highly.
One is a Thomas Dodd violin, bought in New York City, in 1885, by W.L. Thompson, whose sacred songs appear in present-day hymnals. Inside the other, on parchment, is the date 1721, and the name Antonius Stradivarius. This may or may not be a "genuine Stradivarius."
Both instruments have unique histories. The Dodd violin was bought by Thompson while he was in New York City conferring with his music publishers. He had opened a music store in East Liverpool, Ohio. On this trip he wanted to buy the best violin he could find and he took plenty of time before choosing the Dodd, for which he paid $50.
BACK IN HIS STORE he hadn't the heart to increase the price. As it happened, two young men from Hookstown, Herbert Porter and his half-brother John Hartford, saw the violin, heard its tone, and wanted to buy it, but they had no money. Thompson held the violin while they earned the fifty dollars, working at the going wage of seventy-five cents a day.
Both men died rather young. It was then, in a public sale, that Mercer bought the violin because of its tone. He sent it to Boston for some minor repairs and touching up of the finish. For this he has the receipted bill. The date is 1899.
In 1901, the editor of "Violin World," a magazine published at that time in New York, wrote the following about Dodd violins: "Thomas Dodd was a native of Sheffield, England, but spent the greater part of his life in London. He was an admirable copyist, very careful, to the minutist details.
"Some of the copies of Amati and Stradivarius are so faithful that they can hardly be detected even by experts. The Dodd violin will undoubtedly increase in value as time goes on. It would be a good investment for anyone to buy up all the Dodd violins he can lay his hands on."
THE SECOND VIOLIN was obtained by Mercer in '1930, as a payment for certain services rendered. It had apparently been in the vicinity for a good many years but where it came from had been forgotten and not much attention had been paid to it.
When Mercer cleaned and polished the wood, its sheen added to the rich tone, made him look more closely. It was then that he discovered the parchment label inside.
Sometime later, he took the violin to Old Economy in Ambridge and showed it to John Duss, late trustee of the Harmony Society. Duss was a band conductor and at one time conducted his band in Madison Square Garden.
THE ITALIAN VIOLIN-MAKER, Antonio Stradivarius, lived from 1644 to 1737. He started making violins under the influence of the great Amati.
By 1690, he had developed his own techniques and had freed himself from the Amati tradition. He did his best work from 1700 to 1715. After that he made some violins personally but tended more and more to supervise the making of others in his shop. These did not have quite the quality of his own work.
After his death, a number of unfinished violins were hastily put together and sold, also under the name of Stradivarius. Hence the extreme difficulty of judging what may be truly called "a Stradivarius."