m your favour of the 13th ultimo (which I
only received by the last courier), that you offer me five giliati for
all the patterns and moulds which I happen to possess, as well as for
those lent to Bergonzi, and also for the tools of the trade of my late
father; but this is too little; however, to show you the desire I have
to please you, and in order that not a single thing belonging to my
father be left in Cremona, I will part with them for six giliati,
providing that you pay them at once into the hands of Domenico Dupuy &
Sons, silk stocking manufacturers. I will send you the things
above-mentioned, conditionally that I keep the five giliati and use
the other one to defray expenses for the case, the packing, and the
custom-house duty, which will be necessary to send them, and I shall
let you have back through Messrs. Dupuy, residing under the Market
Arcades in Turin, any balance that should remain, or (if you like) you
may pay the said Messrs. Dupuy seven giliati, and I shall then defray
all the expenses, and send also the two snake-wood bows which I
possess.--(Signed) PAOLO STRADIVARI."

[Footnote 3: These instruments and the tools appear to have been in
the possession of Paolo from the year 1743, when Francesco died, and
Paolo opened the shop in the Piazza S. Domenico as a cloth warehouse.
He therefore seems to have only decided to dispose of his father's
tools when he was in a feeble state of health, he having died, as
already noticed, before the purchase was settled, aged 68.]

[Footnote 4: A giliati was a Tuscan gold coin bearing the arms of
Florence, the value of which was 9s. 6-1/2d. Its present purchasing
power would probably be three times as much, and therefore the sum
asked by Paolo Stradivari would be equal to 38 pounds 12s. 10-1/2d.]

In reply to this interesting letter, Messrs. Anselmi di Briata appear
to have written accepting the terms offered by Paolo Stradivari, and
to have explained to him that they had been in treaty with a certain
Signor Boroni, relative to the purchase of a Violin, and having come
to terms they wished the instrument to be packed with the tools and
moulds. Paolo, in acknowledging this communication, June 25, 1776,
says: "In reply to your favour of the 10th instant, Signor Boroni will
hand me over the Violin upon hearing that the money has been paid to
Messrs. Dupuy. I shall then have no objection to place it in the same
case together with the patterns and implements left by my f