Fake Castello cellos

[Ratcliffiddles]

Would you say that these three heads were made by the same hand? (I would!)

The one on the left is the only one which describe itself as "reproduction" the other two also bear Castello labels, all have poplar backs. Anybody familiar with this merchandise? which seems to come from Hungary. What is also worrying is that one sold recently in Sweden (by a Hungarian) had a certificate from somebody in Cremona.

[Rokovak]

Are you sure about the far left? It looks a good deal sloppier than the others.

[mmusperf2004]

Hello all,

If I recall, there was a "Castello" cello on eBay a while back (I think it was listed two times within a few months). I can not recall where/who the listing was from, but it looked, from what I can remember, very similar to one of the posted pictures. It was a very nice (reproduction) cello.

Tom

[Ratcliffiddles]

Are you sure about the far left? It looks a good deal sloppier than the others.

I'm pretty sure, the light isn't great on the others but that individual outline doesn't just happen. I love the bushings!

I'll post some fronts and backs when I've cobbled them together.

[andrew weinstein]

A couple years ago I saw a Ceruti cello copy from Hungary. It was different from most copies I'd seen in that they were pretty good at making the wood look old, but as you spent more time looking it became increasingly obvious.

[Ratcliffiddles]

Here are a few more pictures, I think they speak for themselves. I am receiving some useful information about these and am starting to "get the picture".

Fronts:

Backs:

All these are labelled Castello.

[Richf]

One interesting feature of many modern fakes (mostly from China) is the unwillingness of the "makers" to inflict the kind of damage one expects for an instrument of age. No finish loss or depressions under the bridge. No worn-off or broken-off points. No real or even simulated wing cracks or breaks at the button. And most of the distress to the finish is all on the surface. The fakers of the 1800s had much more nerve.

These Castello guys at least are willing to bush the pegs and inflict a little real distress on the wood. But they still can' bring themselves to break wood. That pristine wood alone would make me question an instrument. It's also strange to stay with one model and one label. That virtually guarantees they will be outed. Good detective work, Peter. And you didn't even need any dendochronology!

[Ratcliffiddles]

One interesting feature of many modern fakes (mostly from China) is the unwillingness of the "makers" to inflict the kind of damage one expects for an instrument of age. No finish loss or depressions under the bridge. No worn-off or broken-off points. No real or even simulated wing cracks or breaks at the button. And most of the distress to the finish is all on the surface. The fakers of the 1800s had much more nerve.

These Castello guys at least are willing to bush the pegs and inflict a little real distress on the wood. But they still can' bring themselves to break wood. That pristine wood alone would make me question an instrument. It's also strange to stay with one model and one label. That virtually guarantees they will be outed. Good detective work, Peter. And you didn't even need any dendochronology!

No chance of any dendro on the first two fronts, as they are slab cut, but I did do an analysis on one of the others with regular quarter sawn spruce, which revealed a 20th century date. I corresponded with somebody who had one the slab front one, and there opinion was that the wood had been treated with nitric acid and it had subsequently developped some splits. So that one might end up looking even older!

[match]

And another one more...

http://cgi.ebay.de/A-very-fine-old-Cello_W...A1%7C240%3A1309

How can he determine the poplar as italian ? ( the magic word for the generous sellers who give away their i... instruments on ebay )

Mat