Grandini Violin, W. Imberti Bow on eBay

[schuy]

Well folks, I did it again. I bought something on eBay. I'm wondering if anybody would be willing to look at the listing and tell me if the violin looks authentic, or like someone slapped a Grandini label in there to get a few hundred extra bucks at some point. And does anyone know anything about the Imberti bow? Looks decent to me... I paid $800 for the lot. I reckon if all is as advertised, I got a pretty good deal... 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/296834880758

Thanks, feel free to abuse me for buying on eBay :-) I deserve it. 

[schuy]

...

[schuy]

Here are the photos. My last attempt at uploading them didn't work.

[GoPractice]

Better photos always help, but will say you did ok with this purchase.

For sound or playability, not sure, so not as excited for you.

Scrolling up and down for 30sec, it seems to be OK. Not sure of the wood on the bow, but wood. Condition for both parts look good. Measure out the back length- with that sort of cleat on the back, it's likely to be a few mm long. My opinion is that they are what they are. Not sure when the Grandini models made it on these shores and not willing to look at the moment. Workmanship looks ok on this model.

If the bow is not beat up, as a half- lined " Brasil " bow, the shape/ profile of the stick should be ok. Again, not sure of the material. A better example plays fine. Check the weight.

In a larger metropolitan area in the US, these type of deals and values come up several times a year on social media ad sites. The value situation is complicated. It is French, but most of the shops I worked at would not consider selling lower end models. Not to be snobbish but the shop might have felt that it confused the shop's position on French instruments. These are my words, not the shops. These shops would stock expensive French instruments and some of the lower end French instruments, despite sounding ok, were just not taken in ( not purchased at auction or for trade. )

So maybe they were snobbier shops. I have a JTL in a box somewhere and it sounded fine when I took it apart. It played well and the student who had it was fortunate to play a far more expensive French instrument before they went off to an elite school, and is likely performing on a loaned instrument in Europe now. I was going through a collection of donated sheet music recently and this young man's program as a high school student was in between some of the duet music.

And the set up was similar at the time with a silver Brasilian bow. Not sure of your marketplace, but as for value, I am just down the street if the market sells Busch Light, so auction site = craigslist?

[GoPractice]

Sorry.

What you paid at the auction was similar to that of a good find on craigslist? Deals still exist. We can still hope.

[schuy]

Thank you for the info that is helpful. One advantage of eBay over Craigslist is that, if you realize the listing was not accurate or are otherwise unsatisfied with your purchase, you can return the item. In the case of a damaged or misrepresented product, eBay will force the seller to accept a return, if they try to get slippery. Good luck trying to get your money back for something you bought on Craigslist...

[GoPractice]

Yeah. You did ok.

I would argue that eBay is not foolproof, that enforcing misdeeds is not their forte. I know very little about overseas commerce. Have heard plenty of stories, even products from Texas that were not what the buyer expected, which tickles a bit. The assumption is that seller did not know ( that the instruments were not real, ) and that the sellers were being de- frauded.  

The strange thing about Craigslist or Reverb, is that people are trying to unload something of anticipated value. And many are testing for bites like bad fishermen. Many know enough about instruments to make a better call. But employees do not unless, without the owner educating them. And there are those willing to exploit those errors.

Someone took the effort to fitting the pegs, which are hardly original.

I would play around with the strings a bit. There were instruments that were not played, because they were thicker and sounded muted. The condition is excellent for the age, given the photos, so would argue that the instrument was a bit on the thicker side? Just a guess?

The Imberti stamp might have been distributed by Waterlily ( can not remember the name ) in the US? Very hard working guy. I tried a bit to leaf through my manila folders of loose product descriptions but did not find the name. They brought over a variety of bows. And ever so grateful as they were another source of better bows. Most everyone in this chain is hardworking and most are to be admired.

[CantPlayChaconne]

Your violin looks insanely similar to mY 1920 Mirecourt violin. It has no JTL on the label though, just a fake Guarneri label. 
 

But I am stricken with the likeness, from the F holes to the flaming on the back. I wonder if they’re related. 

[schuy]

Those do look very similar! I ended up returning mine, as the materials and workmanship just didn't look as good to me as other violins labeled Grandini that I found online, and the bow had a pretty rough twist to it. The purfling seemed fair to middling and the f holes rough, for example. The wood seemed fine but not special. Kind of a heavy violin. Got a full refund. The seller turned out to be a very nice eBay seller and I think they understood that the undisclosed bow issue was a valid dealbreaker. I left them a good review. Do you like yours? I didn't end up fully setting mine up, so not sure how it sounded.