Opinion about this Ebay violin?

[shaheeen]

Hi!

I am currently looking to upgrade my stduent level chinese violin. I am from Mauritius and there are no local luthiers and nothing better than my violin found in local shops.

I am very tempted to buy an instrument over ebay.
I found this listing in the auction. I contacted the seller for a violin being played on video with no reply as yet.

Would this be a playable intrument if not really as glorious as described?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/162515704380?_trksid=p2060353.m1431.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

[Stavanger]

Let's just say this guys violins are very often discussed here on the forum... Incredible how many forgotten master violins he manages to find in venezian attics... 

[carl1961]

It looks nice, has neck repair and looks like some purfing damage on back and the corners chipped also you may be surprised at the end how the price will jump up. if you want a violin with video , search Royce Burt on you tube but so far as I could find online , his start price is over 1500.00

 

Edited May 21, 2017 by carl1961

[franciscus]

1 hour ago, carl1961 said:

It looks nice, has neck repair and looks like some purfing damage on back and the corners chipped also you may be surprised at the end how the price will jump up. if you want a violin with video , search Royce Burt on you tube but so far as I could find online , his start price is over 1500.00

 

Neck repair?

[carl1961]

2 minutes ago, franciscus said:

Neck repair?

I meant scroll, 

[franciscus]

3 minutes ago, carl1961 said:

I meant scroll, 

It is called "pegbox cheek". Rather ugly, real or fake, never mind.

[Stavanger]

4 hours ago, carl1961 said:

It looks nice, has neck repair and looks like some purfing damage on back and the corners chipped also you may be surprised at the end how the price will jump up. if you want a violin with video , search Royce Burt on you tube but so far as I could find online , his start price is over 1500.00

 

Since we have someone decribing it as nice, I'll counter that with it being rather not nice. It might be better than your current chinese student violin, but it might very well not be. This is, in my opinion, also a chinese violin. Most likely not old at all. Antiqued (read, in this case: abused), with fake features like pegbox cheeking, like mentioned by Franciscus. 

There are MANY red lights both about the violin and the seller, so my advice is to stay clear.

If your budget is in the few-hundreds range, you should rather buy a chinese violin that does not pretend to be something else. They do make quite decent violins for cheap money.

[carl1961]

16 minutes ago, Stavanger said:

Since we have someone decribing it as nice, I'll counter that with it being rather not nice. It might be better than your current chinese student violin, but it might very well not be. This is, in my opinion, also a chinese violin. Most likely not old at all. Antiqued (read, in this case: abused), with fake features like pegbox cheeking, like mentioned by Franciscus. 

There are MANY red lights both about the violin and the seller, so my advice is to stay clear.

If your budget is in the few-hundreds range, you should rather buy a chinese violin that does not pretend to be something else. They do make quite decent violins for cheap money.

I agree , so many lately selling on eBay and there like you said made to look old and with torrent wood now it would be hard to even use the light to tell (flashlight shining on the wood to see if the light spreads) that seller in link does not even show the peg box and since you mentioned, the so to look peg box patch wood grain sure looks to close the the surrounding wood, so it could just well be a fake with cut lines to fake a patch. your advice would be correct !! I feel stupid now !! thanks for the eye opener. I see a Rotary 360 view , shows fake peg box

 

[Stavanger]

It is actually rather upsetting what lengths some would go to unload cheap instruments for a premium on ebay. I have sold many instruments on ebay myself, but to add fake features to make them look "authenticly old" is just pure rotten evilness.



Google keywordsfor future reference: ebay seller: venezia-violin 

[sospiri]

Well I looked at Venezia violins rating and I can't see the problem. Nor can I see a problem with this violin? It's not a new Chinese intstrument. And I don't think the label is fake either.

The seller has good reviews with no negative comments. Nor can I find any by searching.

Sour grapes on MN?

Show me where I'm wrong?

[jacobsaunders]

3 hours ago, sospiri said:

Well I looked at Venezia violins rating and I can't see the problem. Nor can I see a problem with this violin? It's not a new Chinese intstrument. And I don't think the label is fake either.

The seller has good reviews with no negative comments. Nor can I find any by searching.

Sour grapes on MN?

Show me where I'm wrong?

Well, it Looks like a re-varnished saxon box from the late 19th C., with an obviously fake label pos. out of the book by Brinnsner or similar, so the task would be to show you where you’re right, if anything, not where you're wrong.

[sospiri]

4 minutes ago, jacobsaunders said:

Well, it Looks like a re-varnished saxon box from the late 19th C., with an obviously fake label pos. out of the book by Brinnsner or similar, so the task would be to show you where you’re right, if anything, not where you're wrong.

So why stick on a label from the same period of a relatively unkown maker or dealer?

 

 

[jacobsaunders]

44 minutes ago, sospiri said:

So why stick on a label from the same period of a relatively unkown maker or dealer?

 

 

Sticking a phoney label of a hardly heard of Italian maker in an annonymous re-varnished saxon box, is an entirely logical procedure for the usual eBay Mischpoche, and is evidently entirely sufficient to wrongfoot guliable treasure-hunters like you.

[Televet]

[carl1961]

Look at Stavanger picture with the arrow , you can see the Fake peg box fix cut that stops also look at the peg holes you see fresh new wood fragments 

[Ron MacDonald]

1 hour ago, jacobsaunders said:

Sticking a phoney label of a hardly heard of Italian maker in an annonymous re-varnished saxon box, is an entirely logical procedure for the usual eBay Mischpoche, and is evidently entirely sufficient to wrongfoot guliable treasure-hunters like you.

Thank you Jacob, for hitting the nail on the head!

[WorksAsIntended]

I will never understand why people pay $385 for such an awefull violin....

Sospiri, they even invented names of violin makers that did not exist at all. This is a very obvious fake. And I suspect the seller is fully aware of it. Calling this a master violin to sell it should be chargeable.

[mathieu valde]

8 hours ago, sospiri said:

Well I looked at Venezia violins rating and I can't see the problem. Nor can I see a problem with this violin? It's not a new Chinese intstrument. And I don't think the label is fake either.

The seller has good reviews with no negative comments. Nor can I find any by searching.

Sour grapes on MN?

Show me where I'm wrong?

Show me where I'm wrong suspecting sospiri is a Venezia violins ?

 

[Martin the violinist]

21 hours ago, sospiri said:

Well I looked at Venezia violins rating and I can't see the problem. Nor can I see a problem with this violin? It's not a new Chinese intstrument. And I don't think the label is fake either.

I've been watching this person's auctions for some time already. He regularly sells old German or Czech VSOs / POSes (well, also violins in some better cases, like this one ) with fake labels - he either puts them inside himself or has people for it. The percentage of instruments that really are what they pretend to be is approaching zero, in my opinion. A typical eBay crook, if you ask me...

Quote

The seller has good reviews with no negative comments. Nor can I find any by searching.

It's true that he really tries hard to avoid any negative feedback. He obviously obtained five negative comments in the past, which were corrected afterwards (i.e. after having accepted the returns and refunded the payments). Good feedback is crucial for him to be able to sell garbage on with a maximum possible profit.

Quote

Sour grapes on MN?

No, just pure realism.

Quote

Show me where I'm wrong?

Practically everywhere.

[vathek]

It looked to me like the scroll was deliberately cut up and poorly refit and glued

[sospiri]

22 hours ago, jacobsaunders said:

Sticking a phoney label of a hardly heard of Italian maker in an annonymous re-varnished saxon box, is an entirely logical procedure for the usual eBay Mischpoche, and is evidently entirely sufficient to wrongfoot guliable treasure-hunters like you.

Italian maker? I thought you were a stickler for geopolitcal accuracy?

[sospiri]

5 hours ago, Martin the violinist said:

I've been watching this person's auctions for some time already. He regularly sells old German or Czech VSOs / POSes (well, also violins in some better cases, like this one ) with fake labels - he either puts them inside himself or has people for it. The percentage of instruments that really are what they pretend to be is approaching zero, in my opinion. A typical eBay crook, if you ask me...

It's true that he really tries hard to avoid any negative feedback. He obviously obtained five negative comments in the past, which were corrected afterwards (i.e. after having accepted the returns and refunded the payments). Good feedback is crucial for him to be able to sell garbage on with a maximum possible profit.

No, just pure realism.

Practically everywhere.

They are not expensive instruments. He isn't selling many. He's not making lots of money. I wouldn't buy one, but I do think there is some sour grapes on this thread. And some silliness and paranoia. Antiqued Chinese? Wow he musta spent some time getting it almost right, especially the fake repair? You guys crack me up!

 

[martin swan]

1 hour ago, sospiri said:

They are not expensive instruments. He isn't selling many. He's not making lots of money. I wouldn't buy one, but I do think there is some sour grapes on this thread. And some silliness and paranoia. 

 

That someone would condone this seller's behaviour is quite surprising to me. I don't think this will win you many friends here on Maestronet ...

As for sour grapes, the idea that this hapless con artist ekes out a living by buying crap violins, putting crap Italian labels in them, selling them for £100 profit a time, then having to deal with all the dismayed buyers who thought they were Italian because he has "Venezia" in his Ebay ID, taking them back, relabelling them, sending them out again, spending his days up to his neck in cheap bubblewrap and old cases that cats have pissed in - yes I am insanely jealous!

You think this is OK? : http://www.ebay.com/itm/Rare-Antique-PAUL-BAILLY-4-4-Old-Master-Violin-expert-document-Playable-/162487309690

[Carl Stross]

7 hours ago, Martin the violinist said:

 A typical eBay crook, if you ask me...

 

Would you tell him this if you're face to face with him, he's 6', 240# and was a crappy boxer in his youth ? I BET you wouldn't. 

[martin swan]

35 minutes ago, carl stross said:

Would you tell him this if you're face to face with him, he's 6', 240# and was a crappy boxer in his youth ? I BET you wouldn't. 

That's hardly an ethical consideration, more of a matter of common sense 

Though for all we know, Martin the Violinist is 6'5, 270lb and a major slugger!