Books › The violin : how to choose one, 1893 › scan 52
Scan 52
The violin : how to choose one, 1893
2 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. Printed page 48. See the scan on archive.org.
1to buy a really good violin, which I am offered at a high price, say £150 or £200. How am I to be sure that it is genuine?" To this I answer that the onus of proof does not lie with the buyer but with the seller; and in such a case I advise that if the tone of the violin be quite satisfactory, the buyer should ask a guarantee of authenticity from the seller, and a written opinion from Messrs William E. Hill & Sons, 38 New Bond Street, London. All experts and dealers naturally lie open to a deal of unmerited abuse, but I have never heard the greatest grumbler utter a whisper against the honesty of this firm; while for experience and knowledge they occupy the foremost place in the whole world. That is enough for any prospective buyer who cannot depend upon his own judgment; but, in addition, I may notice a precaution taken by an old friend of mine when buying a violin, which must make assurance doubly sure. This old gentleman had been struck with the extraordinary prices set down in the lists of the London dealers, and having also heard whispers against their honesty, he adopted the plan of selecting a suitable violin from one firm, and then submitting the instrument to a rival firm for an opinion of its genuineness and value. The result was astonishing, and a fine study in human nature, and made the buying of a violin rather a serious undertaking for one advanced in years, but the result was generally the purchase of a good violin at its lowest market value. A whole volume might be filled with the tricks of fiddle cheats. Some obscure foreigner, who knows the weakness of humanity, advertises "a fine Lupot violin—price £20." A country amateur nibbles at the bait, knowing that the value of a good Lupot is about £100; the violin is sent; the ticket seems all right; the varnish just fresh enough, but the model and tone are fair, and the fiddle, worth thirty or forty shillings, changes hands. It is clear that in such a case the rapacity of the buyer quite equals the dishonesty of the seller, and both deserve our contempt. False Lupot violins seem to swarm just now; indeed, any oldish violin of Strad model, with soft-looking red varnish, can be doctored into a "Lupot" to deceive the unwary. Some years ago I was shown a violin supposed to be about 100 years old, and which sounded rather well under the ear; but when I took it to an orchestral practice, I had not played through one piece when I had to groan out—"Oh, how I wish I had brought my own fiddle. I can't hear this thing at all, however strongly I tear
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