Three13

The fluting goes to 6:30 or 7:00 at best.

It was a mid-30s del Gesu that had a replaced scroll, and had been the main instrument of a well-known Chicago player, who evidently believed it to be a Nemessanyi. The violin made the rounds and ended up at a US auction house that presented it as “attributed to Nemessanyi”. It sold for $14k, and was certified by Charles Beare shortly thereafter. I understand that it’s been re-united with a correct scroll. Probably the best (true) violin story I’ve ever heard.

I’d love to see the Ole Bull in its original state. It’s worth mentioning here that il Cannone is both late and pretty well preserved, and to the best of my knowledge isn’t being derided by anyone as hideous.

There are great photos in the Joseph Curtin blog (which I'm sure you have looked at) here: https://josephcurtinstudios.com/the-violin-makers-dilemma/ I'd imagine he took other images.

I don’t really know anything about Juzek Master Art violins apart from the information that gets repeated ad nauseum around here, but I don’t think I recall ever seeing one with a rounded top to the pegbox like that has. Since Juzek was an importer, I guess that sort of inconsistency is possible but it seems odd to me.

But where; s the fun in that?

There are a couple people I know who could probably manage to make a convincing example, but if I made it, it would look something like this (or worse):

A minty fresh del Gesu is all any of us here need.

My point exactly. edited to add - Maybe we've just stumbled upon the reason there aren't any known del Gesu violas - all the ones with high ribs ARE violas.

I'd think it is fair to say that a fiddle with a 36.1-cm LOB and a vibrating string length in the neighborhood of 32.5-cm strung with violin strings is a de facto violin. I don't get the sense that the OP is thinking the instrument is cut down, just that it may be a 14" viola (one packing an extra 1/4", I guess).

I guess you would like to be a dealer now? In all seriousness, the regular animosity people show towards dealers (and I mean dealers in any historical objects) is understandable, but it's also misguided. It is absolutely true that some dealers are crooks, some are ignorant, and some are both, but there are plenty out there who aren't. As such, it's the responsibility of the buyer to figure out whether the person they're dealing with has a reputation for honesty AND expertise. Anyone who doesn't take their responsibility as a consumer seriously is just creating a market for the crooks. Setting that aside for the moment, consider what it would be like if there weren't dealers (and the consequent secondary market for fine instruments). Finding a good instrument would be an order of magnitude more frustrating, and in the absence of a reasonable profit motive, it's unlikely than many fine instruments would survive in playable condition. This might not matter to someone who doesn't love old violins, but the prospect certainly doesn't appeal to me. There are immense benefits to becoming an educated consumer, which seems to be what you're up to right now. Taking the time to do so will make it pretty apparent who is knowledgeable, who is honest, and who is bent; however, assuming everyone is out to get you will alienate the people who can help you the most. I'm not a violin dealer, so I don't have any skin in this game, but I do find the constant negativity in threads like this a real drag. My personal experience with people who accuse everyone around them of being dishonest has been that there's usually some pretty serious projection going on - hopefully, you're not one of those...

Here is a very clean Del Gesu corner:

I used to have one of those pigs from the late 19th century - I can't remember whose picture was inserted in its derrière, though.

Looks to me like a fairly typical late 19th century cottage-industry violin. It’s difficult to speak to its value as a tool if you haven’t played it.

Speaking as a complete novice, aren’t the strings an input and the instrument (and its modes) the output?