Blank face

Also the front fluting is stopping a good way before the end of the throat, OTOH the overlapping rib joints are indicating that it was made using a mould, what it has in common with the later production of better quality. One should consider that Roth had a company shop from 1903 on and it can be assumed that they had developed a range of different grades before 1920. The distinction between different qualities can be found at Markneukirchen shipping lists from 100 years earlier and model names were part of Mirecourt catalogues from the late 19th century, as well as the claim that the top range was made by individual artists. Therefore I think it would be difficult to ascribe such shop instruments to a particular person who wrote his name in it.

This one: https://cohenviolins.com/products/untitled-nov23_19-32 Photos can be deceiving, but is it that great, maybe in comparison with contemporaries like Paul Knorr?

That’s why I wrote about „company time“. What are usually discussed as the most valuable and desirable are those from the period when they started the export business and model grades, meaning the early 1920s till the end of WE2, from which time onwards their reputation originated. I have to admit that I never saw an earlier one, and most people probably neither.

I am very curious how you can recognize the violins „he made himself„, or if they really are any of those from the company time. Usually the boss was more occupied with business activities and less experienced with making than the employees spending day in day out at the bench.

Genealogy . The Bossard-Bonnel store in Rennes, if it is listed as a store music has provided work for many valuable luthiers and bow makers. The first Bonnel to migrate from the Vosges westward was Nicolas Bonnel who He settled in Rouen shortly after 1840 with his brother Joseph-Pierre. Both were luthiers. and instrument dealers from Dommartin-sur-Vraine. He will put to work Amand Gardeux (1824 - after 1856) as a piano tuner, François Brugère Malakof (1825-1875) was a luthier, as was Antoine Brubach (1847-1894). who will later marry a Breton woman in Rennes. His successor will be Haumesser in 1873. If Nicolas remains single, his brother Joseph Pierre will have descendants. who will continue in the business in Rennes, probably taking over the Huel business, previously installed. His eldest daughter marries Mr. Blanc, military bandmaster at Rennes. It is through this branch of the family that the Bossard name will arrive. The eldest son, Charles and His brothers Emile and Alphonse therefore continued the Bonnel business with a cousin born in Mirecourt, Amand. All of them, to my knowledge, are single, including at the time of Emile's death. In 1891, the widow Bossard, the sole heir, handed over the management of the workshop to Charles Théodore Husson, who had been working for Bonnel since March 14, 1887, will work there. until his death October 13, 1907He is the one who will produce most of the signature instruments. Bonnel in Rennes. The following worked for this large workshop: Joseph Demarne (1810 - after 1844), Charles Basile Claudot, (born in Mirecourt in 1824 and who died in Rennes in 1887), the bow maker Auguste Lenoble (1828 - 1895), Théodore Husson (1860-1907), already mentioned, Georges Aubry (1871-1936), Pierre and Paul Audinot (1893 - 1971) (1895 - 1945), and finally René Morel (1932 - 2011). Genealogy Abbreviations: Ap = after Av = before M = Mirecourt o = born X = married + = deceased FO = organ builder. FS = birdcage maker. FOS = organ and birdcage maker L = luthier. Md = merchant. Ft d'I = instrument maker FA = bow maker. T = turner. FIV = wind instrument maker Naturally , since the focus of our research is instrument making, other professions are mentioned only as examples. related, but incomplete. A careful examination of the tree below indicates that, like many expatriates from the Vosges region, the Bonnel family has prioritizes bringing in family members or acquaintances, as for example in Brubach, Brugère. We also include on this page the genealogy of the Brubach family, which serves as a link between the Husson and Brugère families . the Quenoil family and a branch of the Bonnel family.

You can produce an automatic AI translation anytime.

There’s a lot of confusion about that brand. That kind of label was used by the Stadlmair firm in the USA, also the writing style and language appears to me English and not German. Karl Hermann in Markneukirchen used a brand “Andreas Morelli”, but not a label, so he might have sold the use of the Morelli name in the US to the Stadlmair firm. The violin itself could have been produced by anybody in the Markneukirchen/Schönbach region according to the American taste of the period. It’s surely not incidentally that fancy details like the shield under the button or the golden diamonds at the pegs are identical with those at the “Juzek“ labelled stuff sold by Metropolitan Music. Violins with floral inlays in the corners were made by the Gagliano family, too. They look to me more similar than those used by Pietro Guarneri of Mantua. I

You will find a lot of informations regarding this Mirecourt makers at Roland Terrier’s website. The lower rib of your violin most probably started as a one piece, as it’s common with that old French construction “built on the back around pre-installed blocks” and was shortened due to the shrinkage of the plates. Within the process a bit of the brand was lost; the name under the end pin reads”Bonnel”: https://www.luthiers-mirecourt.com/brubach_bossard_bonnel_genealogie.htm Here are the informations about the Thouvenel family: https://www.luthiers-mirecourt.com/thouvenel_genealogie.htm It was quite usual in Mirecourt to deal with names and brands between different shops and firms , so one can wonder wether the Thouvenels sold their name to Bonnel or the other way round; or if one shop produced the violins and the other distributed them after adding their own brand to it. In any case it features the typical model and construction of a good Mirecourt shop instrument of the first half or mid of the 19th century.

Yes, that’s another example of a possibly Schönbach-Mirecourt coproduction (as if was also noted by Kauert f.e.).

You can click/tap on the little arrows at the side to get other views. Details like scroll or ribs are much more even than at the OP. If inked purfling/unflamed wood is the lowest, real purfling/unflamed the second, this one would be the third grade of cheap student violins. In so far I agree.

That’s a very cheap “rough and ready” made violin from a Mirecourt factory like Laberte. I have no clue if Mougenot ever labelled and sold such instruments through his shop, but it has nothing to do with his own production.

I’m still disagreeing with that. No matter what the labelling could mean, there are too many fine details being identical with his “fine” instruments as that it could be mass produced or simply “improved”. For example this very personal way to cut the scroll windings, especially the last “Komma”. That’s nothing what can be just random, or the way to shape the edging. Maybe an early or experimental work. I’m still curious to see how the linings are attached to the corner blocks.

Another Josef Pötzl 1976 from Umeni Houslaru. Rather “standard” ff but more close to the OP than the Guarneri model.

That’s called “badly repaired head crack”.

The “cheap bought in” violins were these: https://www.the-saleroom.com/de-de/auction-catalogues/hargesheimer/catalogue-id-hg-dd10121/lot-ad7b4c1f-fa4b-4fc1-9a58-b4ad010e74f1 Nothing in common with the OP. Maybe you should ask his grandson to have another and closer look?