Books › Fiddle frauds and how to detect them, 1894 › scan 17
Scan 17
Fiddle frauds and how to detect them, 1894
6 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1thorough training in instrument making. An amateur naturally thinks that in relying upon his master or some celebrated player for advice when purchasing an instrument, he will be perfectly safe, little suspecting that he may be fleeced in various ways. Quite apart from the commission which every dealer will pay to those who introduce business, without a murmur, there are plenty of unscrupulous middle-men who will put such pressure on a salesman, that actually half the amount paid for a violin will find its way into their own pockets. Where a respectable maker cannot or will not yield to such pressure, he will be boycotted, or his instruments will be decried by those harpies as worthless.
3Herm. Aug. Drögemeyer, violin maker, of Bremen, in his excellent volume, Die Geige, remarks: "There are makers who have for years owed their prestige solely to their liberality to the teachers. Matters, however, assume a serious aspect when purchasing stringed instruments (violins, violas, violoncellos) where a proper market price cannot be said to exist, and where the price varies by hundreds of pounds, according to the condition in which they are to be found. In such cases, Mr. Jones or Mr. Robinson will inevitably be over-reached, not to say swindled. In the settlement of the estate of a well-known maker, it was shown that he had to pay to a violin teacher of wide reputation from 40 to 50 per cent. of the price charged to pupils on every instrument. This is certainly a scandalous state of affairs, and it may be doubted whether such transactions would be sanctioned by a court of law. Nobody, however, appears to have sufficient courage to come forward and publicly expose these extortions."
5From what I have said, it will be easily comprehended that the imitation of old violins, particularly those of Italian origin, and the accompanying devices.
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