What the ?????????

[luthier]

Check this out

http://www.ebay.com/itm/A-very-fine-English-violin-by-Benjamin-Banks-1774-/300788587454?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4608659bbe

[lyndon]

saw that one too, this gartsman guy gets around, he also does most of the certs for mariam94, is that a revarnish??? funny that he wrote a cert with no appraised value

[martin swan]

looks like a listing that's been hijacked from Alex Gartsmann/mariam94

[jacobsaunders]

funny that he wrote a cert with no appraised value

Since when have certificates had an appraisal value?

[luthier]

I'm sure Alex Gartsmann had nothing to do with this listing at all. What I fail to understand is why anyone would bid on this violin? The listing is such an obvious fraud.

OK, let me modify this after further study.. The person has probably no knowledge about what he's selling, and didn't think it was wrong to copy Gartsmann's listing. It is confusing, to say the least. It looks like a A. Klotz model or school violin, probably quite decent for the price it sold for.

[lyndon]

this guy actually has pretty good feedback and lots of it selling trumpets(see below), its rather unlikely that he would throw that all away to list a violin he wasnt really selling, and the {banks} correction; longman and broderip stamp on the back is rather difficult to fake, longman and broderip were dealers of pretty low grade stuff, is still think theres a possibility that someone related to banks shop made this violin for very little money to sell to L and B, but then i know next to nothing about english violins, saw a longman and broderip harpsichord, theyre basically about the cheapest english keyboards, and this looks like a cheap english???? violin

retraction this is not the seller with the good feedback selling trumpets, that was the guy selling the juzek master art for $1500 (see juzek thread)

correction; there is no evidence of any connection to banks, banks was only one of many violin suplliers for longman and broderip and this violin doesny say banks anywhere, even for a cheap longman and boderip $910 is a good price though less so if the varnish is not original

its quite possible mr gartsman was under the mistaken impression that banks was the main suplier for longman and broderip when he was just resposible for a small percent of their violins, not all

neither the violin or the certificate appear to be a fraud, although one cant rule it out completely

[fiddlecollector]

Longman & Broderip sold alot of decent stuff.

[lyndon]

decent to cheap, wouldnt you say, fiddle

[Addie]

funny that he wrote a cert with no appraised value

It looks like that cert is a digital fabrication, and was never even printed. Looks more like a screen shot of a web page, doesn’t it?

[Conor Russell]

That looks to my eyes like a L&B london trade fiddle, but the top may have been messed with. I like these fiddles.

[bean_fidhleir]

I guess I'm glad I didn't see the listing...I'd probably have at least auditioned it. [sigh]