ANCIENT VIOLIN

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19646, 15 June 1929, Page 8

ANCIENT VIOLIN

AN AMATI PRODUCT ? WEST COAST SUBSCRIBER'S | QUERY. A West Coast subscriber has written to The Press stating that he has in his possession a violin which was in the hands of the family of the person from whom he pur.hased it, for over 70 years. _ The inscription inside the instrument is as follows: —"Antonius Hieronimus Amati, Cremonen Andre Fili, 1678." He asks the value of the instrument. Experts interviewed by a representative of The Press yesterday were diffident in assessing the possible value of the violin, or making any statement as to its being a genuine Amati product. It appears that there have been several enquiries in the City during the past i'ew weeks concerning violins reputed to be of great age and worth, but the exnerts state that it is impossible to make any pronouncement without seeing the actual instrument. While a violin may bear all the appearances of age its tone may be quite valueless. In many cases old instruments, possibly of considerable worth, are sent to the repair shqp, and the repairer, in cleaning the violin, removes the original label and inserts his own, thus obliterating any means of definitely ascertaining the name of the maker. If genuine the violin in question might be worth anything from £2 to £IOO, but for all practical purposes this depends solely upon its tonal quality. Dr. J. Hight, of Canterbury College, stated that he could give an opinion only by a personal examination of the instrument. "The Amati Brothers' instruments have been copied by the thousand —in fact by the million—," he said, "and the label alone is no indication whatever."