Books › The violin : how to choose one, 1893 › scan 11
Scan 11
The violin : how to choose one, 1893
2 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. Printed page 7. See the scan on archive.org.
1leave the instrument and call in the afternoon for an opinion. Upon calling he was told that they declined to have anything to say in the matter on any terms whatever. He had a customer ready to buy the 'cello at a good profit, if that particular firm would certify it genuine, and was so paralysed by their answer that he took the train home straightway, and, of course, lost his sale, and still has the 'cello. Another case—A gentleman in the heart of England bought from expert B a violin guaranteed by the seller to be a genuine Lupot; sold it for 70 guineas to another enthusiast, who in turn exchanged it for a fine Cremona. The third owner of the "Lupot" had occasion to send the violin to experts A, in London, when they at once emphatically pronounced it an instrument "with no pretensions whatever to the name of Lupot," and advised that it be sent to Messrs. Gand & Bernardel, in Paris, who, being the successors of Lupot, are the best judges of his works. Owner No. 3, however, chose rather to send it back to owner No. 2 and get back his Cremona. Then up to London went owner No. 2 (owner No. 1 was dead) and tackled expert B, who assured him the violin was a genuine Lupot, but "an early work" of that maker, and gave him a certificate to that effect, with which he was perfectly satisfied. The value of this may be estimated when I state that the violin is ticketed, "Nicolas Lupot Luthier, rue Croix-des-petits-Champs, à Paris, l'an 17—" (the date indecipherable). Lupot last worked in the shop at that address; before that (date 1803) his address was "Rue de Grammont," and still earlier (1791) he dates his violins from the City of Orleans. How then a violin made by him in the "Rue Croix-des-petits-Champs" could be "an early work" is explainable only by expert B, who could easily have sent the violin to Paris for identification, but did not. Yet another case—An English traveller, who is an enthusiastic player and a good judge of violins, writes to me thus—"Now about the so-called professional expert. During my twenty-six years' travelling I have come across all sorts of violins which have been sold by these gentlemen. I know now where there are three totally different violins all sold as the work of Landulphus, and they are no more alike than chalk and cheese, and the owner of one was quite offended when I told him I did not think it was by that maker. I knew that it was only an old French fiddle. I know where there is another sold as a Lupot, for £40, by people you know. Its real value is about £10 at the outside. I was once told of
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