My New Cello

On Thursday I was thrilled to acquire a "new" cello, made in London (where else?) by Thomas Kennedy (1784-1870) in 1850: my first old instrument.  (The cello I've been using since 1993 was made in Alaska in 1988.)  Surely if any cellist were meant to have an English cello, I was.  Of course, every musician should know which monarchs were reigning when his instrument was made, so a few weeks ago I prepared this chart of the leading monarchs of 1850.  And here I am playing "God Save the Queen" (requested by one of my royalist friends) on this beautiful English instrument, my portrait of HM visible on the wall behind me.