Questions on aging pattern

[RueDeRome96]

Hello,

I have a few questions regarding the appearance of my violin. I have been told it is probably German-made from the first-half of the 20th century. Please bear with me as I have no experience of wood-working or varnishing...

1.  Is the light-dark pattern of the back due to age and wear (light areas are worn more than the dark ones), or is it due to the way the wood originally took the varnish?
2. What are the dark spots due to? I read that they are due to dings that happen during the life of the violin. Is that were true, wouldn't the varnish be damaged at each of these spots? It seems that the varnish is as smooth as everywhere else at these spots.
3. Does the darkness of the back seem mean that it has been repaired?

Thank you.

[deans]

Here are my opinions

1. This is "antiquing", or shading, not real wear. It is meant to mimic the real wear on older Italian (and other) instruments.

2. This is rosin gunk. Or perhaps "antiquing" to mimic rosin dust and dirt, sometimes you see this.

3. It does look like it had a center seam repair, is it cleated on the inside?

[Wood Butcher]

The varnish shading, blackening around the bridge, and elsewhere is exactly as it was made. The back joint is extremely obvious, so I would imagine the lower half came apart, dirt from inside the body got into the joint, and the person who glued it, either didn't bother or couldn't clean out the joint. 

[RueDeRome96]

Thank you for your replies.

There is no cleat that I can see on the back seem.

I always thought of antiquing as a modern practice. Was it common for early 20th century German makers to antique their products this way?

[David Burgess]

26 minutes ago, RueDeRome96 said:

I always thought of antiquing as a modern practice. Was it common for early 20th century German makers to antique their products this way?

This doesn't go back as far as the early 20th century, but what do you think?

[Violadamore]

3 hours ago, RueDeRome96 said:

Thank you for your replies.

There is no cleat that I can see on the back seem.

I always thought of antiquing as a modern practice. Was it common for early 20th century German makers to antique their products this way?

The early 20th. century, like every other period since the "Age of Discovery" is modern, and yes, they certainly did, beginning by 1860, if not much earlier and we just don't notice.  People were pre-dating labels by 1760, for Heaven's sake.

[martin swan]

13 hours ago, RueDeRome96 said:

 

I always thought of antiquing as a modern practice. Was it common for early 20th century German makers to antique their products this way?

There may be earlier examples, but Chappuy and others were antiqueing in the late 1700s using lampblack at the C bouts. The Fendts and many other Strad copyists were using shading and other antiqueing effects in the early 1800s - by the mid 1800s it was a very widespread practice.

[fiddlecollector]

This is the sort of French antiquing i detest , some time in the 19th century.

 

[Dave Slight]

2 hours ago, fiddlecollector said:

This is the sort of French antiquing i detest , some time in the 19th century.

 

Mmmmmmm!

[Rue]

I am sorry, but I can't help laughing.

That is deliberate?  Not just a refinishing job that stopped in 'the middle' for some unimaginable reason?

[Taylor]

2 hours ago, fiddlecollector said:

This is the sort of French antiquing i detest , some time in the 19th century.

 

Looks a little like it's wearing a cheap bustier.

[fiddlecollector]

2 hours ago, Rue said:

I am sorry, but I can't help laughing.

That is deliberate?  Not just a refinishing job that stopped in 'the middle' for some unimaginable reason?

Yes deliberate, quite common amongst one or two French makers in particular  around the 1850 era

[fiddlecollector]

JTL were so impressed they revived the style a little later but added a splodge of their own just to be different.

 

[Rue]

Oh dear.  I can only suppose they all failed Aesthetics 101...

[Violadamore]

2 hours ago, LethbridgeViolins said:

Looks a little like it's wearing a cheap bustier.

Yup, stereotypically French..............

Vive la différence! 

2 minutes ago, Rue said:

Oh dear.  I can only a suppose they all failed Aesthetics 101...

Like!! 

[fiddlecollector]

The extra splodge also varied in size.

 

[Johnmasters]

Can anyone say for certain that Strad did not do some shading of varnish ??

[RueDeRome96]

Thank you all for your answers.

Is there a simple way to know if it has been re-varnished?

[Violadamore]

4 minutes ago, RueDeRome96 said:

Thank you all for your answers.

Is there a simple way to know if it has been re-varnished?

One dead give-away, if it has obviously been previously opened, but also has unbroken varnish over the top edge seam, it's been revarnished.

[Ben Hebbert]

I'd say JTL still continues to influence... 

 

 

 

[fiddlecollector]

12 hours ago, Ben Hebbert said:

I'd say JTL still continues to influence... 

 

 

 

 

I prefer the Fabivarius.

 

 

[David Burgess]

There's an idea, fiddlesicles.

[Violadamore]

4 hours ago, David Burgess said:

There's an idea, fiddlesicles.

Would what you're left with be "fiddlesticks"?