Guido

Thanks everyone. Perfect. I really need to do something about humidity control, i.e. at least get a humidifier. My relative humidity can drop into the twenties and go up into the eighties. Bow hair length is the other pita with that. And I always hope it isn’t too dry on a day when someone is coming to look at instruments, as they generally sound much worse in very dry conditions.

To get the obvious out of the way; despite well adjusted pegs... Sometimes I open a case that has been stored away for a while and the pegs may have all popped lose, or the opposite, they are seized to a point where I can barely break them free (and I suppose this is one way you get peg box cracks). Many of you may never have experienced this as I suspect it takes quite a swing from one extreme to another; but unfortunately where I live I get huge differences weather and building standards are tent-like, so it isn't always easy to control conditions. The question is within the permutations of climate conditions (warm, cool, humid, dry), going from which combination to which combination may result in either lose or seized pegs?

Maybe you try reading the label on the top block for a starting hypothesis.

I actually agree the OP is probably Saxon... (although maybe not as clearly as it seems to be for you and Jacob). Just thought this was interesting as we discussed this feature in this thread. Don't want to split hairs, but there are three cellos out of six with this feature in the cozio archive.

... and there are already three more cellos by this maker in the cozio archive featuring a back of the pegbox like this. This is a scandal of epic proportions :-)

Talking about features :-) https://tarisio.com/auctions/auction/lot/?csid=2199830528&cpid=3872899072

If you are purely after the money you could sell the case and the bow for $20 each (assuming they are usable as is), but the violin w/o set-up will be a liability to anyone.

Quite possibly the head doesn’t belong as it seems to have had a darker varnish before. I still have a bit of a dutch feeling about this one, the purfling in particular, but also ffs and varnish.

The odds are in favour of Saxony (and it fits quite well); but would Dutch be a remote possibility?

It's a professional level cello made from solid wood with genuine inlaid purfling. Does it have a bow with real horse hair? Jokes aside, high/low quality means different things to different people. And while there are many exceptions either way, fluted f-wings are usually a good sign in my book.

... just like little Will did on the Kreisler Del Gesu head during high school orchestra rehearsal.

You may have better luck at specialist auctions (i.e. tarisio proper) which is taking increasing aim at retail customers. At T2, the violins are without any attribution, some are as labelled, some are questionable, some are fake, some are "dangerously" trying to deceive. Same for condition. Some are ready to play, many need work, some are for restoration. Most people will grossly underestimate the effort/ cost associated with getting a violin in actual proper playing condition, even though it may have looked good. Finally, if you can't try the violins, the odds at auction will be against you. Especially the ones that are in retail condition and could just hang in a shop - because chances are: this is what they just did, and were deemed difficult to sell. You don't need to be a genius to understand that shops/ dealer weed out difficult to sell instruments from time to time by giving them to auction, where most bidders don't get a chance to try them.

Most likely an owner

No. The picture is more nuanced, but I guess there is no place for this

I would agree with George re pictures. The whole approach of seeking an opinion online about a violin being offered somewhere else is somewhat problematic, because we have bitter members on this forum who piss on any violin they see. This will leave the seller compromised, as his/her customers will not discern the quality of the negative poster. While I generally agree with this, I do think it is a good idea to try and consider re-sale even if its only a distant possibility. A relatively unknown American maker might indeed be a bad choice in this regard. If you buy , for example, a Collin Mezin instead, you are likely to get (more of) your money back.