Opinions on an estate sale Stainer copy

[WesternSwing]

Good morning yall,

The title says it all. I picked up what looks to be one of the factory made Stainer copies from the turn of the century. Paid $20 for it at the estate sale of a home luthier in my town (unfortunately other people beat me to most of the tools) and thought if nothing else it'll look good hanging on the wall because of its brilliant finish. No sound post crack, no back cracks but a f hole crack on the G side right next to the rib as you can see in the photos. Repairs on both sides of the pegbox as you can see, and the hole placement is odd, maybe he was going to come back with whose side plate mechanical tuners some of these used to have? Any guesses on that? Unfortunately I cannot ask him. 

What caught my eye about this particular instrument is the narrow waist and how much arch the top and back have, and I've heard some country fiddlers like the sound of these. In no way am I concerned about flipping it or resale,(although I am curious what it'd be worth set up) I just like cool old instruments. My daily player is a 1920s model from Japan, also a garage find professionally rescued, I'm certain I have more into it than it's worth and yet I love it. 

Overall, what do yall think? Yes I am planning to take it in to have an estimate on fitting it either with regular peg tuners (and tailpiece fine tuners) or the old side plate mechanical tuners.

All feedback welcome and you aren't going to offend me, since I'm only in it for $20!

[GeorgeH]

What you paid is about what it is currently worth. It probably will cost more to repair than it will ultimately be worth. With that arching, I wouldn’t get my hopes up that it will sound good. Sorry!