Books › The violin : how to choose one, 1893 › scan 10
Scan 10
The violin : how to choose one, 1893
2 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1and yet be worth very little. There are some experts who will give an opinion on any violin for 5s., and for that sum you will get from them a paper containing an infinitude of nothing in all doubtful cases. I have seen one of these documents, and the violin which it described, and there were palpable mistakes and errors in nearly every line, while the writer carefully avoided all reference to the probable maker, which was the information chiefly sought. But supposing you avoid a cheap expert as you would a cheap doctor, and you pay £2, 2s. to expert A, and then take your violin to expert B, it is highly probable that the latter will exclaim "Ha! you have been deceived! Pay me a trifling fee of £2, 2s. and I will quickly prove to you what a dishonest pack some of us are." If you be simple and pay the fee, he may give you an entirely different history of your violin, and send you away satisfied, but should you afterwards chance to show your violin to expert C, he will look perfectly aghast, and for a trifling fee prove to you that experts A and B are not only entirely mistaken, but are little better than robbers. Genius among experts is rare, but honesty among experts who deal in violins is about as rare as are perfect Strads. Said the horse dealer's boy when called upon to trot out a horse, "Father, am I to ride him for selling or for buying?" Pretty much the same high toned principle actuates the average dealer in old violins—his judgment is often cruelly warped by the possibility of him becoming the owner of the violin. A real case in point—A man in England died, leaving a fine old violin and an orphan boy to whom the violin was as nothing but to represent so much money. The chief trustee took the violin to London and showed it to an expert and dealer, who said it was nothing in particular, ran it down to the utmost, and then offered £5 for it. The trustee, dissatisfied, having heard that the instrument was considered valuable, took it to another expert and dealer, who with wonderful unanimity went over pretty much the same palaver, and also offered to buy the violin for £5. Quite surprised and disheartened the trustee left London and showed the instrument some time after to an amateur expert, who promptly pronounced it an Italian violin by a good maker, in excellent preservation, and shortly after helped him to sell it for £100. Another case—A country dealer and repairer got hold of a fine 'cello, supposed to be by Amati, and took it up to London to expert B., when he was asked to
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