Blank face

Though it is quite right that in the later 19th century this kind of frog attachment was used for cheap and nasty bows only, early examples can be very nice (like fiddlecollector’s). A very informative essay about this period of bow making is here: https://tarisio.com/archet-revolutionnaire/kai-koepp-french-or-german-bows-for-beethoven/

Unfortunately I'm just aware of the reproductions in the Bongartz auction catalogue from May 2007, when they sold the former Hoesch collection. Eric Meyer told me once, that these photos were taken more early in the 20th century for a magazine, but I have no idea where to find them.

One often wonders what can be solved either with water/dishwasher or some simple cooking oil. What kind of violin are we seeing here, some good French maker?

This seems to read Vylesbourg/Vilsburg, what would make it a variation of some Lorraine cross or whatever. Or even from Switzerland

I’m reading Forster, W., which could mean both II and III. These are printed reproductions of historical b/w photos from a catalogue, so unfortunately no other pictures available.

You might also compare the bridges from the Schreinzer collection, actually in the Kunsthistorisches Museum/Vienna, as far as I know (Forster and Banks in the upper picture):

Maybe they tried to cover some graffiti of previous owners

It’s not possible to know the value of anything by the picture of a piece of paper through a slot. Otherwise Teller violins seem to be massproduced Bubenreuth instruments especially labeled for the North American market, which may have different values in different countries-probably much less in Europe (where I never have come across this name) than in America.

Always welcome Anyway what the label is saying the violin looks well made and preserved.

This one: https://holfter.com/main_bigware_34.php?items_id=304 l guess that the second volume is still in progress. The author is a collector of Berlin made violins and took part in some exhibitions of the Musikinstrumentenmuseum.

I think you already know the answer.

The odd edgework points to an autodidact using a prefabricated Markneukirchen box. There were many of them in Berlin, often not documented anywhere. Maybe the Meyer book about Berlin making has a note about him, if you would find somebody having a copy.

Somebody has to do the necessary work. As long as there isn't an AI for it.

This is typical wishful thinking of a person who might have knowledge in other realms of art, but none about violins, as one can experience regularly when being in the violin business. It would be better for your peace of mind to say goodbye to this thoughts as soon as possible. Like others wrote, with a bit more of experience you could see immediately that this violin has nothing in common with Guarneri but a lot with the often Hopf branded Saxony Dutzendware from the proposed period. Everything like construction method, varnish, scroll shape, neck attachment and a lot of other features doesn’t allow a different attribution. And this reflects only the outside impression of the instrument, without looking at the internal structure, which is just as important. I can easily imagine a shop where they said “Well, here we have a nice case, a lot of old but worthless violin related artifacts, papers and a cheap violin beyond repair, so let’s put it all together for an auction. It probably will sell better this way than the sum of it sold on its own “.

Anyway I'm noticing now the very clumsy neck heel and wobbly rib joints what I'm associating more with Markneukirchen/Schönbach than with French. The Fahrkarte would support this.