Guido

Didn't say you said. But I said. You are probably right about this being a dealer stamp. The rest was what I said. Obviously you couldn't have said anything about the bow without having seen it, no?

You are probably right. Just a dealer stamp on a cheap export article. I attach a few more photos of the bow itself. It's silver mounted and looks like Knopf family to me. Maybe not worth rehairing. Those cambers at the head look like they were laser-cut. Maybe a sign of excessive production speed with these bows. If one just moves the knife fast enough... The wood is very beautiful, but of course pernambuco was abundant at the time and can be found at very cheap bows.

there won't be a better photo. it's just not there

I’ll take more pics later. But the area of the glare doesn’t really show anything at all, not even to the eye in the flesh, leave alone taking a good picture of what I don’t see. I was really just hoping someone had seen a similar brand or someone had an idea which bow maker family name ended in …SON. There wouldn’t be many. could be …& SON, but I thought the bow would be German.

What I can make out seems to read "J. .............SON". Anyone got any ideas how to fill the space? Bow has some age judging by the use of iron screws to fix the liner.

EBay would have listed dozens of modern and antique Italien violins for very little money at any given time. What could possibly go wrong?

"Trade violin" (or bow) most certainly carries a negative connotation with most people; and more often than not it is used in this understanding. How inadequate this can be illustrates my favourite example of a "trade bow". You may have heard of the French bow maker E. Sartory? Well, he made "trade bows", supplied unbranded to E. Gaertner in Germany, where they were branded as Gaertner before they were sold. Gaertner also sourced bows from H.R. Pfretzschner among others, but didn't make bows in his shop. So the Gaertner bows are "just trade bows".

Nice violin. The label is Heinrich Eichheimer. Someone here may know if he was a maker, a dealer, or just a made-up export label.

Was my first impression, too. But could be German imitating some French style features. Do we have cleats along the back centre seam?

Yes, our posts just crossed and I didn't see your description of warm/ bright for different materials. I suppose the end pin does carry the vibration. I'm aware of an amplification effect if you put the end pin on a box when playing. AS the pin carries the vibration different materials will dampen/ filter different frequencies to different degrees. Would be my guess,

It would be the weight that is a variable here. No doubt, as the body resonates, the dead weight of the end pin will have a dampening effect, akin to a practice mute on a bridge. Less weight more resonant. Could be good (obviously) but also bad as the sound loses focus and separation. Never conducted any rigorous experiments but I'd suspect the effect to be minor.

Ha! There you are. Was looking everywhere. An old thread in the back of my head. Anyhow, not much to learn for me here. But maybe a contribution; that the cut-down is real and the "S" used to sit below the purfling :-)

Well, I suppose that’s still the rosy picture. As with my opening example, a violin maker could buy $200 violins from China, just set them up (cost $400). And export the whole product all over the world as Made in Germany. No need to assemble or varnish anything.

Looking at the lower block, it is installed with a different grain orientation. I don’t think this would have happened in Saxony. but it is also possible that the lower block is not original to the violin.

Thanks for the additional pictures. interesting violin, not the usual. the head doesn’t look Saxon, and the lower block has an unusual shape. the island for the trough neck is odd though as it reaches much further into the body than the neck. Maybe it was shortened. the construction method can be found at old English instruments, too. while the brand (xxxx London), may or may not be the maker, the violin could still be English.

Five largely unaltered instruments in existence from ca 1590 with the maker/s documented back to 1550.

Wow! The cozio archive exceeds the speed of light. For Sylvie Masson, they have one auction result, a bow which will have failed to sell next week. No mistake, the bow is indeed being offered at this time, with the auction closing next week.

You see cheap violins with “Made In Germany” on the label. Assuming this is legit, it seems hard to reconcile with an hourly rate of income in Germany north of a few cents. How does this work? Obviously “Made in Germany” allows for prefabricated imported parts or materials in the final product; but where does one draw the line? Is it determined by a share of value added in Germany, say, more than 50%? Then of course you can buy finished violins from China for $200, set them up for $400, and sell them for $600. Voila, enough value added in a Germany to label the product “Made in Germany”. Just a guess, anyone knows?

Thanks, that's probably it. I was going though the list of Mirecourt names without success. W/o bio, Cozio may not have them under Mirecourt. I was also unsure about the second and last letter.

Found a signature of the person who made the fingerboard, may or may not be the person who made the violin. The neck is also grafted adding to the likelihood of a replaced fingerboard. However, the fingerboard is rather thin, and hence could also be original. Even though the writing seems clear enough, I don't recognise the name. @Michael Appleman or anyone else able to make sense of it?

What would make you think it would be “worth” anything other than what you paid for it??? And if you bought it new in a shop and want to sell it again maybe a bit more than 50% of that. Also, hand-made can be applied to any violin, in particular the cheapest violins you can find from China. Both lines of inquiry seem rather strange.

Saxon, mass produced, often play well and are a good choice for students.

Screwdriver antiquing is often overdone (while they are at it), and the nicks are somewhat similar to each other, even if they try to avoid it. The marks here are few and far between and they appear very random, in depth, length, intensity, angle, etc. I’d lean towards thinking these marks are genuine signs of aging. If it was done artificially, then certainly not with the (proverbial) screwdriver. Also, while I have seen instruments antiqued from new with a neck graft and bushed pegs holes; I have not seen multiple peg bushes applied to new instruments. Also, this was mostly done in the 1920s/30s and this instrument looks very different overall. Again, I think it is genuinely old. Not sure about a revarnish at some point. I don’t see any conclusive indications for it myself.

Some varnishes wear surprisingly quickly. Some may actually like it. Generally, I’d err on the side of leaving varnish alone, but I have previously touched up a similar situation for s customer. If it is a contemporary violin you may want to consult with the maker.

Ok, here are three more examples I have around at the moment. Two German, one French; but I don't think that matters at all regarding the question of design intention. All of them, again, just have a flat ribbon and no hair running up the sides. So, is it a thing? Or intended to be, that the hair runs up the sides of the ferrule to about the widest point? Was that Vuillaume's idee with this design?