antoneeyuh

I agree with the consensus that she should choose her own instrument. Instruments are a very personal thing.

I really like the alligator case though lol

I'm not sure what happened to my post but I responded 5 days ago and it's still not approved. Maybe it got lost in the nether. When I initially measured, I used a small metal tape so it wasn't as accurate. I've since remeasured using a plastic tape and the center joint does appear to be dead on. Here is a better image of the seam of the rib joint. Lol that is indeed a dust bunny/violin mouse/tone ball

I am unsure if this may be helpful but I did my best to take a picture of the inside. Perhaps this could be more enlightening to some?

For your first two questions, I don't know. I'm not a luthier and I'm not going to try to open up the violin. For your last question, the center joint does appear to be quite center, at worst maybe only a millimeter off. To everyone: I'm sorry that I am unable to reply individually but I'm only given permission to reply so many times since I'm new here. I wanted to thank you all for your information! I've also supplied additional photos, though I'm not sure how helpful they will be. Regarding the varnish discussion, the scroll does appear to have a darker varnish but I wanted to point out which may not have been evident in the original photos that by the neck of the violin, it has a similar dark varnish that has worn away. I've attached more photos.

I was thinking more of a skilled itinerant player, such as a Romani person from Bohemia. It appears to be a fiddler's instrument to me, given its state. I can imagine it played around a camp fire but not sure if any of the damage could be caused by sparks. Thank you for the reply!

Thank you! Yes, I do believe that the varnish is original or at least very old if it ever was re-varnished.

Hi there! I recently purchased a well-played violin with a rich, crisp sound because I fell in love with it. Approximate age is 1850-1890s, but it is unlabelled. After my own research, I believe it to be from the Salzkammergut region, however, it does have inlaid purfling. I did notice that there seems to be some evidence of painted purfling as well, but it appears to be painted over top parts of the inlaid purfling, so I'm at a loss of why that would be. The F-holes are quite large at the bottom and very serpentine in shape. They appear to be hand carved since they don't seem very uniform with each other. They are also very close to the edge of the instrument. There is no label or evidence of there ever being one (no old glue or anything) but it does have the initials "CE" carved into the scroll. The scroll is grafted and pegbox repaired. Overall appearance wise, it seems very well played by a skilled player with a lot of ware around the body where a person would often be in 5th position and beyond. To me, it sounds incredible and it is a joy to play. I'm not very skilled but it has made me play several hours per day the last few weeks just because of how enjoyable it is. I'm not looking to sell it. I am just looking for the provenance of it. I don't care if it's worth a lot or nothing at all because the joy I get from it is worth more than money can buy. Any thoughts as to its origin? Thank you so much for any information you might have. - Antonia