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pahdah_hound

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About pahdah_hound

  • Birthday 04/02/1958

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  1. Go ask Alex, the Red Queen, the hookah smoking caterpillar, the White Knight, or the dormouse. The White Rabbit has the answer. Something here strongly suggests the sensory distortions experienced with hallucinogens. I think the initials on the "cert" are AB, perhaps?
  2. An interesting experience for anyone interested in violins is to examine and play many different violins in all different price ranges at a major auction preview. However, I think it would be very difficult, frustrating and possibly very disappointing and expensive for an individual to successfully buy the violin they really want at a major auction. Often violins with modest estimates sell for many times the estimate. Another concern is that if you identify 2 or 3 potential candidates for purchase, you have to decide whether to try to win the first up for sale or wait to bid on another ending later. A dealer, buying many lots, can spread the risk and cost average the best buys with the others. If one out of ten purchases is a mistake, that's pretty good. If one out of one is a mistake, then its a disaster. Returning for a refund an instrument purchased at auction is unlikely, although I have never tried it myself. I think it is a safer bet for a novice to try to arrange the opportunity to audition many instruments in the comfort of their own home without pressure, but with the advise of a teacher and others more knowledgeable. Jesse
  3. Actually, yes. From a German TV film where I played a ship's captain. I can't do anything for real, so I make believe... Jesse
  4. I listed a lot of 6 rattlesnake rattles a few years ago, and they sold for $5. I also got a few messages from people concerned that I might be hurting rattlesnakes to get their rattles. I am pretty sure that dealing in rattlesnake rattles provides few of the same rewards as dealing in violins. Jesse
  5. Does that mean that the excellent, well-trained, intelligent and conscientious professional luthier with 50 years of experience, who I use to repair and set up nearly all of the violins I sell on ebay, "should plain die and stop wasting resources?" He might take personal offense to that suggestion, as would many mature (read old) people who choose to continue to work for a wide variety of reasons. If someone chooses a new career late in life, does that make them indecent? Competition raises quality and lowers price. Competition motivates young people to work hard to achieve a level of superior competency at whatever they do, in order to compete successfully. If the masters with the knowledge and skills gained by years of training and experience were to simply withdraw from the marketplace to create space for new blood, the quality would go down and the price would go up. In a vacuum of competition, the mediocre thrive.
  6. Thank you very much Gizmo... Tara816621, I started selling violins on eBay 12 years ago. I was in a similar situation that you find yourself in. My daughter's level was developing beyond her rental violin and I took her to a shop on the advice of her teacher. After three hours trying violins with a very nice young man with a vaguely European affected accent, they "selected" a wonderful violin for $15000. I had the privilege and pleasure of informing my 14 year old daughter, the apple of my eye and the light of my life, that we were not buying a $15000 violin. I then bought 4 violins on eBay, brought them to the local luthier for evaluation and set up, and found that I had two pieces of junk, an ok 1920s Markneukirchen violin, and a two year old German trade violin that sold in shops, MSRP of $2500. I paid a total of $500 for the four fiddles which came with three bows. My daughter and her teacher liked the new one, she picked one of the bows, and I resold the rest on ebay. The "rest" sold for $1000+, except for a bow that my luthier told me was pretty good. I took that to the dealer with the nice salesman and the $15000 violin who bought it for $2000-it was French he said but I don't remember the name. I took my winnings and bought more violins on ebay, trying to find something better than the German violin she liked. I bought a hundred before i found something she liked better, but in the process alienated her by asking her to try every filthy, dirty fiddle I brought home. I learned a little, but more importantly learned how much there is still to learn. Expertise in violins is a lifelong pursuit-which I have barely begun to scratch the surface. You could become a violin dealer, or you could just go to a shop and buy a violin, knowing that a reputable shop will always give you your money's worth, and that paying a little extra provides some peace of mind. Or you can try a violin from eBay, knowing that any long term dealer will provide a refund if you choose to return it. If you want to buy a good violin cheap, but that will likely need set up and repairs before it can be played, try "violinbuff" or "frenchviolins" on eBay. they have both been selling fiddles on eBay for longer than I have, and are real wholesalers. They are honest and reliable and anyone who knows them speaks highly of them. They both sell to dealers primarily but offer eBay stuff as well. Good luck in your search. Jesse
  7. I found this recent question and answer at the bottom of the listing. Is he threatening the buyer or himself? Q: The violin will you be able to sell the violin and the shipping for 200 A: NO For gods sake the shipping is extra Please don anyone else ask me this or I,ll just take it offline and smash it to Bits Lowballers everywhere.... Something like the bank robber screaming "Don't move or I'll shoot myself!"
  8. I was at the auction and apparently, I couldn't recognize a great violin when I held it in my hands. I think I might have looked at it much more seriously if I had seen it in a flea market or a garage sale. That others far more expert than I, also missed it, intrigues me. This was certainly a one-in-a-million long shot, but does that make the next Skinner sale in two weeks more or less interesting...? Jesse
  9. No malice, just second hand information, that I haven't verified personally, but came from two sources whose information has been accurate in the past. The expert whom I have been told has certified the violin is, beyond question, the recognized authority on violins of this kind. It is interesting to me that at least the two previous owners apparently had no idea that the violin was a del Gesu. And, supposedly, the violin was purchased by the consignor ten years ago for $5000. The fact that many dealers, who are more expert than the auction's specialist, saw and handled the violin without concluding that it was a del Gesu, suggests to me that the auction house has ample evidence to suggest that the level of expertise required to properly attribute the offering is beyond the reasonable expectation of an auction's specialist. When recent provenance were also unaware of its attribution, I do not think that the auction house can be held accountable for the lack of correct attribution. Had the consignor represented to the auction house that the violin was an authentic del Gesu, and the auction expert disagreed, without exercising due diligence, then I think the consignor would have a case against the auction house. Similarly, if the violin was sold to a dealer at the auction for 100 times the estimate, then the auction specialist could be at fault for not recognizing what others apparently could. However, in such a scenario, it is not likely that the consignor would have suffered harm or could prove damages. Isn't this one of the reasons people attend auctions? To get a great find for much less than it is worth. Jesse
  10. It has been mentioned to me by people who usually know, that lot 44 of Skinner's April 2014 sale has been recently certified by a famous London expert as an authentic Joseph Guarnieri del Gesu. I heard the buyer is rather pleased with his purchase. There are dozens of experts who held the violin in their hands who are now scratching their heads. (speaking of heads, I understand that this one is not original). Lot 44 Sale # 2717B Jesse
  11. It looks like there are four different user names (at least) that this seller uses. While not identical, the listings are all similar, including the carpet backgrounds in the photos. lalamigra amteco giccgicc pilence0 The multiple user names is a dead giveaway for me that a seller does not want to be identified with his merchandise. Jesse
  12. Claire Givens is well-respected, well, maybe only in America and England where we don't know the difference. Andrew Dipper joined Claire Givens Violins as Vice President. Andrew Dipper, a highly respected maker and early instrument restorer brought Dipper Restorations from Taynton, Oxfordshire, England. In 1988, she hosted the Violin Society of America International Violinmaking Competition. In 2005 she organized a conference for the National Music Museum named The Secrets, Lives and Violins of the Great Cremona Makers. She has written "In Focus" articles in The Strad magazine featuring a fine viola made by Minneapolis maker Mathias Dahl (June 2001), and a violin made by Giocoma Zanoli, Verona c. 1749 (October, 2000). In October 2010, Givens co-wrote with Andrew Dipper a Strad article on the King Henry IV Amati Bros. Ms. Givens is a member of the Violin Society of America (VSA), the American Musical Instrument Society (AMIS), and the American String Teachers Association (ASTA). She served on the board of the Minnesota String Task Force and MN ASTA from 1987 to 1999. She has been a musical instrument appraiser for the Antiques Roadshow since 1999 and has appeared on numerous shows. Currently, she serves on the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees for The National Music Museum, the Board of Advisors for the Yale University Musical Instrument Collection and the VSA Board of Directors. Maybe in another neighborhood she would be heckled. Around here, she is pretty well respected, but what do we know?
  13. I second Conor's thanks Kevin. That was a very enlightening explanation. I have always used the presence of those marks to identify American grown maple, although I have also seen American maple where the marks are very faint and hard to see for sure like the second example in the photos above. I find it much more difficult to identify other woods but I have had a lot of experience with American violins. Jesse
  14. Its not a matter of stupid, just whether on not you know. The small, dark streaks or sap marks that run perpendicular to the flame, parallel to the grain, in a random pattern is the most distinctive clue to identifying North American Maple. They are most noticeable in the first and third photos.
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