martin swan

Here is a violin that had a 1939 EH Roth Markneukirchen label, also no brand or serial number. I can't see much difference myself ... So for me this violin is the equivalent of the French "fait dans l'atelier de ..." concept ie. an anonymous/generic trade instrument with a nice name on the label.

Revarnished … I don’t think it’s worth anything really - good practice that’s all

This for me would be a generic Mirecourt violin bought in and resold by Mougenot … You could find similar violins « made in the workshop of » any number of violin-makers

I don’t think so -more likely the original label was less « interesting », something like ‘ copie de Jacobus Stainer’ …

I agree with the general consensus. To me this looks like a Laberte violin - sometimes this model with the heavily rolled edges has a Stainer label. it looks like this violin had a previous label … For the record, « fait dans l’atelier de … » in Mirecourt-speak means something bought in and relabelled, a way for grander shops to sell a cheaper line of instruments. But in this case it would seem that the label is a later addition.

This thread completely proves my point But also many different things are being conflated. »What’s the best buy you’ve ever had at auction » would be a less toxic discussion, though even when it comes to auctions, musicians are allowed to be ‘lucky’ whereas dealers are aggressive profiteers if they knowingly buy a sleeper …

I don’t think it would be wise for a professional dealer to contribute to this thread

Agree, German In addition to Blank Face’s list, purfling corners on Mirecourt violins almost invariably follow the Stradivari manner ie. they deviate from the plate corners and point more towards the c bouts. This is rarely seen on German trade instruments.

I was ignoring the « enhanced » photo for this reason. My observations relate to the original photo …

The only thing I notice is that the f-holes are very low - for this reason I think we can discount Cremona and most of the classical Italian makers. The back plate overhang seems uncommonly large.

That was as a result of sustained lobbying by Brazilian conservationists, notably Roldão de Siqueira Fontes, the founder of FunBrasil and the person who first alerted the world to the dramatic decline in the species.

Sappanwood from the « East Indies »was the source of red dye colour before the discovery of America. I believe that pernambuco replaced it because the trees were bigger and the trade route was easier (at least by sea).

Yes the country was named after the tree … Pernambuco has only one commercial application these days and that’s bowmaking. so only bow people and conservationists ever talk about it … Latin names avoid all this confusion, particularly since Pernambuco is also a region/state in the country of Brazil.

In the bow trade « brazilwood » is a term used loosely for woods such as Manikara, Ipe, Massaeranduba etc but never for Paubrasilia echinata (pernambuco). Unfortunately CITES and many other non-specialist sources don’t follow the same logic and insist on referring to pernambuco as brazilwood … None of thèse trees produce brazil nuts which come from Bertholetia excelsa. AI has of course added massively to the confusion - garbage in garbage out …

I'm sorry but for me there is absolutely zero evidence of a real or a fake graft here. Angels on the head of a pin ...