How to determine worth if uninformed?

[vision]

Greetings all,

I have a violin with the following label inside:

Nach Amati

von August Muller

Geigenmacher in Sachsen

12 Anno 1913

With case, bow and all components except bridge (so no strings). Looks to be in O.K. shape. My question is if I take it to a local dealer how will I know that I am offered a fair price? I have no idea of value.

Thanks in advance for any and all help

[Norman Clark]

You might want to take it to more than one dealer.

[jmasters]

Stay out of the antique violin business. Actually, old trade violins are not even considered antiques. You are wasting your time, because most people with decent old violins know what they have through recent history. If the thing has been in an attic for a couple of generations, people still know because of family lore. If Grandpa bought it when he was a kid, then he paid a kid's price etc.

This is what I tell folks who come to me. Eveyone is afraid to lose an income opportunity. You won't ever do this if you listen to the common-sense advice to stay away from buying and selling violins. Stay away from flee markets and e-bay.

If you need a violin for yourself or a kid, shop around and take a teacher's advice.

[andrew weinstein]

The advice to get more than one offer was good. It is unlikely that this is a valuable instrument, but if the bow is from the same time and place, it could be worth as much as even more than the violin. If it's been sitting untouched in the case look at the metal on the bow. Is it tarnishing black, like silver, or dull gray with green, like nickel. Is there a name on the bow? Noone can appraise things without actually seeing them, so hopefully you have a couple reasonably honest dealers in your area.

Andrew

[Ron1]

I second, or third the advice of getting at least a couple of appraisals (not necessarily formal) from established shops or luthiers. Then, assuming the instrument is not rare, I believe eBay to be a good venue to sell- the bidding competition generally ensures at least fair sale prices- lately, as attested to on this forum, auction sale prices seem to be on the high side.

[vision]

Thanks to all for the ideas and comments. Good fortunes and good health to you.