Hi guys.
There's a violin listed in present Tarisio New York online auction:
"AN ENGLISH VIOLIN BY THOMAS SMITH, LONDON, 1778"
Since it looks strange to me - neck width at nut looks quite wide to me, purfling is a fake, as well as neck graft, head execution is rather poor - it makes me doubting if it's fully Thomas Smith violin.
What do you think?
Was it rule in that period for purfling to be fake?
JM