Paolo De Barbieri - Stamped Or Not?

[redbrown]

I'm back now from work and read all the great hints and help you guys give me so thank you.

Thanks Jeffrey and everyone else for your help, I appreciate it once again.

[Flyboy]

It's probably time for someone to write an sticky post like "So you found a Strad in your attic..." but instead "Here's what you need to know before bidding on eBay..."

http://www.johnsonstring.com/strads.htm

And before anyone asks, no, I'm not volunteering.

[Joe Doe]

One of the fake moderns I saw was a clever fake, it was even picture in a full page catalog of a German auction house (and sold there), but it was a

fake.

[4strings]

It happens I heard over the summer about a Barbieri available for sale within a couple of hundred miles from me. I met the owner this week at a concert where I was playing a quick ringer gig, and I have to say, I could hear her instrument quite clearly. When she let me have a quick run over it, it was big, colorful, and quick to respond on all the strings. Post concert and on the way to the case room, with the ops crew clearing the stage around us, is no place for a play test. Still -- very interesting.

 

She herself bought it from a member of a nationally known string quartet, and now needs to let it go, for what seem to me valid personal reasons, and has been putting the word about privately. (This isn't a region where many people throw that kind of money at something like a violin. The market is minuscule, and she hasn't reached out to any dealers yet.) But she doesn't have a certificate, and was advised to send the instrument to Chicago to have it authenticated. I'll get to have it for a nice long trial over a concert block next week. But if it turns out to have a sound I don't want to live without, I'd really want a solid certificate, if possible. Can any of you advise as to who I should consult? 

 

Thanks!