Asked what aspect fascinates him the most about these instruments, Fulton replies promptly, “As a player, sound.” He pauses, thinking. “And then they’re so beautiful.”

Fulton also delights in their colorful stories, which he avidly collects. “If you could know the truth of all their lives it would be far more interesting than The Red Violin,” he says.

“And they each have their own personalities and voices,” Fulton says, adding that the voices change with adjustment.

The unassuming-looking “Kemp” del Gesù of 1738 was in the best voice the day I visited. In fact, the Kemp was chosen by Paganini for its tone, according to Peter Biddulph’s book Violin Masterpieces of Guarneri del Gesù. Emperor Napoleon III was so impressed with Paganini’s del Gesù, the “Cannon,” that he commissioned the virtuoso to find another instrument of similar tone for his aide de campe, General Ernouf. Paganini selected the Kemp, which Ernouf played until his death.

Fulton thinks a lot about the future of the Kemp and the rest of his collection. He started collecting violins simply because he liked them so much, but his point of view has changed over time to one of greater humility. “It’s more a custodial responsibility than anything else. These instruments were owned by many people before me and they will be owned by many people after. I’m just one in a chain, a custodian—and you pay quite a hefty price to be the custodian,” he laughs. “It’s my responsibility to make sure they pass out of my hands in no worse condition than then entered them.

“I’m not going to take them with me, that much is certain,” he quips. But dispersing a collection of this magnitude requires as much knowledge as assembling it—a burden he won’t leave for his family.

Taking the long view, he thinks of the instruments in three categories. Those that are great, but not uniquely so, will simply be sold. Personal favorites, like the Little Petrus, will be the last to go. But he is especially concerned with conservation of the most pristine instruments, like La Pucelle, virtually untouched for a century before Fulton bought it. “This is what all the Strads were like a hundred years ago,” he explains. Those, which Fulton regards as treasures of humanity, must be preserved for future generations.

“I feel a fierce desire to protect the finest specimens,” he concludes. “I’d like very much for them to be seen 100 years from now in the condition they are now.”