D'Angelico Violin 1927

It is known that John D’Angelico, the most revered maker of carved-top guitars ever to have lived, started out by learning to make mandolins from his uncle, Raphael Ciani, here in the Little Italy neighborhood of New York City, sometime in the early 1920s. D’Angelico of course went on to world-wide acclaim for the magnificent guitars and occasional carved-top mandolins he made on his own, starting in the early 1930s, but an early violin made by him has never appeared before this one. It was brought into my shop, for sale, about thirty years ago and has been in my possession ever since. It has a paper label inside marked "John D'Angelico Fecit anno Domini 1927 Op. 2”, and on the underside of the top is his signature reading "John D'Angelico New York 1927 Op. 2”, hand written in ink.  JOHN D’ANGELICO is also stamped in tiny letters into both sides of the bridge, an unusual and very nice additional touch.