John Antes showed early promise as a musician, and was contracted to make a set of instruments for Lititz, Pennsylvania. The only known Antes instruments which survive, are a violin (possibly the first made in Colonial America) made in 1759 and held in the collection of the Moravian Historical Society in Nazareth, PA [see a photo of this violin in Multimedia] and a viola made in 1764 and now in the collection of the Litiz Moravian Archives). A cello which he made in 1764 is thought to be in the Moravian Church collection in Gnadenhutten, Ohio.