Books › Violin tone and violin makers, 1916 › scan 29
Scan 29
Violin tone and violin makers, 1916
6 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 9. See the scan on archive.org.
1supposed bargain price of twenty pounds. Its faded and tattered label reads:
3Jacobus Stainer in Absam prope Oenipontum. 1664.
5After possessing this instrument with much pride for a time the owner takes it to an expert to ascertain its real value, and is told at the first glance that it is a modern imitation, made in Germany, and its value is thirty shillings. Here again the tone remains unaltered, but the instrument is not old. As to these imitations, most deceive only the inexperienced. Others, however, are more ambitious, being carefully doctored by expert "fakers," and the old masters imitated—in everything save tone—with diabolical ingenuity. We are constantly reading how paintings and other works of art, supposed to be the product of some ancient and gifted hand, are finally discovered to be spurious; but not before they have succeeded in imposing upon the experts of national museums! These things are judged solely by their appearance, just as the violin is judged, and so long as this system continues, just so long must every one relying upon it be prepared for deception in two directions; the imitation old master on the one hand, and the genuine old fiddle of poor tone on the other. Would it not be a move in the right direction
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.