Strad O Various Jr.

Its easier to sell if you can prove its silver, tarnish does that, once you polish it away most people can't tell the difference between silver and nickel, especially from photos

Genuine Vuillaumes were never stamped Vuillaume on the back, only the fakes, in that condition it really has no value, the repairs would cost more than its worth, you got swindled

if you think you know it all why do you need our opinion??

If I remember this correctly, in the Sears catalog circa 1910 the cheapest Markneukirchen violin was $5 for Stradivari made in Germany, the Lowendal was near to their top model and sold for about $40, so yes its a Markneukirchen mass produced trade violin but its one of the higher grades IMHO the better Lowendals can go for $4-5000 in today's market, I believe

No you entered the conversation without bothering to read the recent comments from the OP that the whole thing has been settled and he has got the violin back

Maybe is you are going to wet the wood, in either case there is no scenario where the winter grain will be depressed enough that it needs to be filled in with filler, although the varnish would fill any depressions, but the OP is clearly showing cracks, not depressions

you didn't read the recent comments, did you??

WTF?? There is no "fill". its called winter growth, it is harder and darker than the lighter summer growth, and if anything the winter growth is higher than the surrounding wood so it wouldn't need to be filled in for any reason.

No, he said its on the bass side of the treble bridge foot and yes it is still technically a soundpost crack, quite possibly caused by a soundpost fit to far in from the outer edge of the bridge foot

Many of us luthiers have a small box of loose eyelets, from which you should be able to find one that fits, its unlikely that the thread of the screw is damaged as its steel whereas the eyelet is brass. A collection of cello eyelets might be harder to come by though

They go for a few hundred on ebay

You own a geigenwerke??

No but its contemporary the Geigenwerke, which used hurdy gurdy type wheels to bow the strings was strung in gut

Hot water can be a solvent for some varnishes

I was told by violin expert Tom Metzler that violins are not generally priced on tone, but violins under $5000 can be priced with tone as a factor, but not more valuable violins, I would think this violin might fall under $5000, and this was over ten years ago so that $5000 might be $7000 or $8000 today