THERE is great charm in this picture of Ina Smillie, the only female violin maker in Britain at the time, in her workshop in Glasgow's Great Western Road in 1951.
She was carrying on a family tradition with her father Andrew taking over from his father Alexander in making violins and cellos.
The Andrew Smillie violins in particular still sell for £2000, rising to over £7000 for the finest examples. They would carry little labels which would state "Andrew Smillie fecit" which was not a curse, merely the Latin for "he made it".
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Just to see the intensity in her eyes as she views the violin in front of her, surrounded by many more examples of the family work, suggests this was a centre of real craftsmanship. Last time I passed Kelvinbridge, Ina's workshop is now Beaver, a seller of car hi-fi systems, which does not have the same rich history as Glasgow having its own violin manufacturer.
The name Ina Smillie still lives on at Glasgow University's Hunterian Museum where Ina bequeathed 26 Dutch and Flemish paintings which her father had collected.
A read a description of a Smillie violin in an auctioneer's catalogue which says: "It’s dark in character but very articulate, and in spite of its power it’s warm and engaging. It has a big dynamic range, equally happy to whisper or scream and shout. Unusual consistency throughout the range, both in terms of tone and volume – nice and juicy on the G, and still vibrant and colourful right up on the E. Aside from a few particularly fine Hardies, I think it would be hard to find a better sounding Scottish violin."
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I have no idea what much of that means but I think it means it's a good violin.
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