He was well acquainted with the late Mr.
George Smart, the celebrated London dealer, from whom his guardian, Mr.
Thoresby, had purchased the Pressenda violin which John commonly used.
Besides being a dealer in valuable instruments, Mr.Smart was a famous collector of Stradivarius fiddles, esteemed one of the first authorities in Europe in that domain of art, and author of a valuable work of reference in connection with it.

It was to him, therefore, that my brother decided to submit the violin, and he wrote a letter to Mr.Smart saying that he should give himself the pleasure of waiting on him the next day on a matter of business.

He then called on his tutor, and with some excuse obtained leave to journey to London the next morning.

He spent the rest of the day in very carefully cleaning the violin, and noon of the next saw him with it, securely packed, in Mr.Smart's establishment in Bond Street.
Mr.Smart received Sir John Maltravers with deference, demanded in what way he could serve him; and on hearing that his opinion was required on the authenticity of a violin, smiled somewhat dubiously and led the way into a back parlour.
"My dear Sir John," he said, "I hope you have not been led into buying any instrument by a faith in its antiquity.

So many good copies of instruments by famous makers and bearing their labels are now afloat, that the chances of obtaining a genuine fiddle from an unrecognised source are quite remote; of hundreds of violins submitted to me for opinion, I find that scarce one in fifty is actually that which it represents itself to be.