jacobsaunders

The Hill bows were more a collective effort of the workshop. The “0” stamped on the face plate would indeed suggest that Arthur Scarbrow could have made the stick. If he made the frog, cambered & haired it can’t be said for certain. The capital letters on the frog are assembly marks, and a corresponding “HY” should to be seen on the stick, so that all the sticks and frogs didn’t get mixed up in the workshop

Not really. One would be mad to draw conclusions though from a single feature, rather one would compare a dozen or so

Some people believe that Juseks were made in Prague, Löwenthals in Berlin, Plact in Vienna, Heidegger in Linz &&&&

In 19th C Europe it was fashionable to call oneself “Fabrikant”, or ones business Fabrik (Factory), just as all sorts of charlatans call themselves “innovative” or “smart” today, however thick they are. In actual fact these people were as a general rule just “Verleger” with some homeworkers who they patronised.

That would be a little curious, since the engineer Wilhelm Thau developed his milling machine at the start of the 20thC, and established a public limited company to exploit the same on an industrial scale in 1906. Also I would dispute the existence of any violin-making factory in Leipzig, and would caution about believing any marketing blurb from some American dealers catalogues

and whose "opinion" we aren't told either

The Saxon makers didn’t have a monopoly of building ribs on the back, just as Stradivari didn’t have a monopoly of building ribs around a mould. The converse of what you say would be that if the ribs have been built on the back (seem to be) then it’s Saxon. In actual fact, that is ONE of the clues one looks for PS; Hello BF

The famous “weapons of mass destruction”

Re “value”: Obviously it is best when a bow (or anything else) is in absolutely perfect, as new condition. Any blemish detracts from this optimal state of affairs, and as a consequence diminishes the “value”. By quite how much is always a source of disagreement. I remember once, I was at a seminar for court experts, and asked the lecturer (who was the president of the Viennese Landesgericht), how he would define depreciation. He answered “In Geld ausgedrückte mistrauen” (engl. Mistrust expressed in an amount of money). You can argue until the cows come home if a “pin crack” is a major or minor blemish or not, you will always find someone who disagrees with you. It would certainly be better if it didn’t have a “pin crack”

Should you be visited by an amateur maker, wishing to display his masterpiece, and should you wish to manoeuvre yourself diplomatically out of the situation, the best tactic, is to say “Oh, what lovely wood”

I can't see any groves in the back (OP violin)

Your statement entirely contradicts the conclusion of your previous thread, and will surely be seen as nonsense by anyone with knowledge of the trade. Previous thread: https://maestronet.com/forum/index.php?/topic/350225-1902-ladislaw-kaplan-back-in-service-after-a-long-rest/&do=findComment&comment=954227

“How much can something cost” is a question that one can only answer with “it depends”. If I were to buy it as it is, in order to transform it to a retail saleable condition, I would have to clean it, retouch the scratches, make a bridge and post, fit new pegs, and a new set of strings, tailpiece, chin rest, check if it needs glueing anywhere, or have any cracks etc. Also it would typically have a stained pear-wood fingerboard, glued on so that the neck stop is a couple of mm short for modern norms, ergo it would be best to make a new ebony fingerboard. Then I would have to find a customer who were willing to buy it, which can also be a lot of work. Having done all of that work, I might hope to market it at around €2,000 incl. VAT. All that considered, my upper limit for buying it in the current rundown condition would be a maximum of about €300

which it isn't

The same as a Neuner & Hornsteiner or a Bader

Reiter in Mittenwald was a “Verleger” and supplied Mittenwald violins by people other than himself in a wide variety of price ranges. You can also read about him as he was visited by an American, Joseph Wechsberg, here https://maestronet.com/forum/index.php?/topic/341608-1940s-roth-violin-history-and-grade/&do=findComment&comment=827958

I doubt that it’s built on the back, and wonder if the blocks/linings have not been altered. The first impression might be something from Niederbayern (Lower Bavaria), where the Thumhard family dominated

no, it's the usual Bohemian box. It might be a suitable project for a hobbyist, but for a professional violin maker, it wouldn't be worth repairing

Yes, I can vaguely remember being dragged around Edward Elgar’s birthplace as a child, which was somewhere near there (?). Perhaps you could educate us, which other composers come from Malvern, since you seem to have local knowledge. Re. the hills: I was chivvied up one once, and at the top was told to look east, and that I was at the highest point above sea level in that direction until the Urals. They forgot to point out that the North German plain was the landscape in-between, which consists mostly of dead flat turnip fields as far as one can see. I also wish Paddy health, wealth and happiness I can confirm that. He is also a really nice bloke. I don’t think he rides a motor cycle though

Looks like a saxon fiddle, late 19th C. Not worth much

So Tyrolean after all

You want to give me another opportunity to use the Gothe quote; Da steh´ ich nun, ich armer Tor! Und bin so klug, als wie zuvor …“.

Since the rib ends are pretty crooked, I would best guess that the ribs were built on the back, so that would exclude Mittenwald, as would the fluting finishing early. Mind you I would more or less exclude everything else, which is why I have kept my council thus far

You should buy the III grade then, you will need to buy a black Edding marker though, if you want to give Philip a hard-on

If you go to Möhrendorf (near Bubenreuth) and visit Mr. Klier’s fingerboard factory, where the good fingerboards of almost all suppliers come from, you can quiz Mr Klier yourself. He actually goes to Cameron, or wherever else and chooses himself whole tree trunks, which one sees, sawn up to season 10 years or so in his garden. The quality grading seems to be density of growth, and if there are any greyish stripes or not. The A1 grade is obviously the best, although even th III grade is perfectly ok, if you don’t mind any greyish stripes.