Martin the violinist

I've been watching this person's auctions for some time already. He regularly sells old German or Czech VSOs / POSes (well, also violins in some better cases, like this one ) with fake labels - he either puts them inside himself or has people for it. The percentage of instruments that really are what they pretend to be is approaching zero, in my opinion. A typical eBay crook, if you ask me... It's true that he really tries hard to avoid any negative feedback. He obviously obtained five negative comments in the past, which were corrected afterwards (i.e. after having accepted the returns and refunded the payments). Good feedback is crucial for him to be able to sell garbage on with a maximum possible profit. No, just pure realism. Practically everywhere.

These violins are normally dark brown / black. So yes, it got rubbed and revarnished.

"Dear Charley, I am writting to you to draw your attention to a small mistake that you have made in the description of your auction: There are three excessive zeroes in the requested amounts. As soon as you correct that, I'll buy the violin. I promise. Sincerely yours, Tony Strad"

It's been a long time since we discussed those mysterious 'carpet background' violins. So let's see this one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/181911453721 And now have look at the following violin and try to find 10 differences between the two: http://www.ebay.com/itm/351528658838 ***** PUZZLE ***** Was Robert Glaser buying violins from Ettore Soffritti and putting his own labels in them? Or vice versa?

The original varnish probably used to be dark or covered with dirt.. It might not have been removed perfectly before revarnishing, perhaps because of the protruding edges?

That's actually what I tried (no so hard) to imply.. I understand that a perfumed poo smells nicer to some people than a pure one The real mystery for me is their relatively good feedback... Do they pay the buyers for it? Okay, some of the feedback may be from the related 'sock puppet' accounts, but not the majority..

There are obviously several eBay frauds based in Hannover (but not only there..) consistently offering fake 'Italian' and 'French' violins. The photos of the labels are usually not included in the auction descriptions, probably for the sellers to stay on the safe side.. I can imagine that the labels are actually still "wet" while the violins are being dispatched. The following German sellers consistently supply eBay with such counterfeits on a large scale (with their auctions showing very similar characteristics, by the way): buyoldviolin, hawaa14, nicetanz, kauferb, onsanik, melodietaube, and probably several others. This is a true mass production of 'antique Italian' violins

For a moment I thought that someone was selling my violin by Jan Bašta (Schönbach). Well, the back plate is not as nice as here, and my instrument was not so expensive (as everyone can imagine ), but the sound it produces is simply fabulous..

A bit unusual rubbish, perhaps? (Saxon?)

Isn't the pegbox, for instance, too clean for an instrument of the suggested age? Also, the hand-written digits (99) seem faked to me (but I'm no expert).

Back to the old Münchner Italian, a.k.a. Giuseppe Fiorini: Too cheap for a real thing, sure, but at the same time too expensive for a Chinese fake, I guess? So what kind of fake was that? BTW, I don't think that the buyer is going to be too excited by the saddle crack (barely visible in the pictures, unmentioned in the description), which is so close to the sound post... Unless it is faked as well, that is

Italian violin from München? http://www.ebay.com/itm/A-very-fine-old-Italian-violin-By-Giuseppe-Fiorini-1893-/111618491584?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19fcfb04c0 Or (rather) from somewhere else? See the related post #40 (that one went quite high..)

Thanks Martin. It was the edgework and the lack of 'dog's nose' on the scroll that made me reject the Czech/German trade origin - I have never seen a Schönbach violin with such edges.

Is the authenticity of that Amati questionable? Anyway, what about this one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Old-antique-violin-label-Carlo-BERGONZI-1733-Italian-/161606430573 Where does this violin come from? Mirecourt? Judging by some of the seller's feedback, even China cannot be excluded

Indeed - it's a sound post HOLE! Being a holy violin, it's certainly worth restoring