martin swan

Agree but with lesser makers they principally list instruments they have sold at Tarisio whereas with the big names they fold in all known instruments from all known sources.

Cozio goes out of its way ro compile a complete inventory of Strads, DGs and Guadagnis. I don’t think it has a similar level of interest in Landolfi!!

Isn’t it always a dendro issue? I can’t see any auction house choosing to demote an instrument with a good recent certificate for any other reason, since that would be against their own interests and against the interests of the consignor, who is the primary client.

With instruments described as made in Cremona there is a wide range of prices depending on the reputation of the maker and the degree to which the violins are actually “made” by the person whose name is on the label. These days there are hundreds of violin-making operations based in Cremona, and having this word on the label is no guarantee of anything.

You appear to have a nice early Hill with matching assembly marks.

Looks fine to me - Giacomellis are trade instruments sold by Collin-Mézin, not made by them, very possibly sourced from the JTL workshops.

This is a nice form of sophistry which allows dealers to sell bows in poor condition. personally I have found no correlation between condition and playability, adverse or otherwise. Many very clean bows play excellently, many heavily restored or buggered bows play abysmally. As you say, there are innumerable reasons why a bow might not get much use, and heavy use is no evidence of discernment on the part of the heavy user!

That’s precisely the point - they clearly don’t or this violin wouldn’t be at auction and Tarisio wouldn’t be enjoying the schadenfreude of displaying this spurious guarantee

I don’t see any exclusions along the lines of “in the event that the instrument turn out not to be genuine”

I wonder why the owner didn’t avail themselves of the Bein & Fushi buyback guarantee?

« possibly by » is about as negative as an auction listing can be! I suspect this is something reasonably decent which has been enhanced, maybe in the Bisiach back shop or English Workshop as Andreas suggests . The edgework looks a bit Florentine to me - de Zorzi or Paoletti but I think it’s just because of the rather extreme varnish wipe.

For me this looks very odd. The label is definitely not an original Giuseppe Guadagnini label, the scroll is rather squat and lumpy, and the f-holes are strange to say the least. All of which is not to say that it’s isn’t the violin that was sold by Wurlitzer, but I don’t believe it’s authentic.

Of course I agree, we choose or modify the lapping in order to create a balance point that suits the player. Having said that, wire lapping is a relatively modern innovation ... whalebone too

What a strange thread. Given the incredibly small percentage of the total weight of a bow that is contributed by metal, i don't think balance is an issue at all. Gold mounts were always used traditionally on the sticks which were considered the best, both in visual appearance and in playing qualities. The choice of materials for the mounts indicates the quality of the wood/stick and the level of or exactitude in the work. Therefore gold mounted bows are de facto "better", even if a particular person might prefer the playing qualities of a stick that isn't gold mounted. I believe that modern makers follow the same philosophy, though I can imagine some cheap trade bows might have gold mounts for no other reason than to have gold mounts.

Plenty of good advice here already but a handy rule of thumb is that the amount of scoop should be equal to the thickness of the string.