How old is violin

Copies made after may also have a country of origin printed in English at the bottom of the label, such as "Made in Czechoslovakia", or simply "Germany". Such identification was required by United States regulations on imported goods. The presence of a label with a famous maker name or date has no bearing on whether the instrument is genuine.

Thousands upon thousands of violins were made in the 19th century as inexpensive copies of the products of great masters of the 17th and 18th centuries. At that time, the purchaser knew he was buying an inexpensive violin and accepted the label as a reference to its derivation.

As people rediscover these instruments today, the knowledge of where they came from is lost, and the labels can be misleading. A violin's authenticity i. This expertise is gained through examination of hundreds or even thousands of instruments, and there is no substitute for an experienced eye. The Smithsonian, as a matter of legal and ethical policy, does not determine the monetary value of musical instruments.

For such an appraisal, we recommend that you have your instrument examined by a reliable violin dealer in your area. Although we are not allowed to recommend a particular appraiser, we suggest you contact the American Federation of Violin and Bow Makers, Inc. If there is no maker convenient to your area, you may elect to send to one of these members three black-and-white photographs of your violin showing straight-on front, side, and back views of the instrument.

Bachmann, Alberto. An Encyclopedia of the Violin. New York: Da Capo Press, Hamma, Fridolin. Translated by Walter Stewart. Many trade instruments bore the label of the master maker in charge of the shop. Ernst Heinrich Roth is a famous example. Born in , the original Ernst Heinrich made many fine-quality instruments himself, which are in great demand today, but he did not spend his career working alone, making one at a time.

He started his own business in , overseeing production in his workshop. The business passed to succeeding generations, who, like the old Italians, used the same name as the old master.

But without knowing the history of the Roth shop, the lay-person might not know whether he or she has a valuable original or a serviceable student instrument. While the stakes are not nearly so high as in the case of the Rocca, the price difference is considerable. After paying a fee, Pfretzschner was allowed into the guild to handle sales.

Exactly how the information is worded can help determine the approximate date of export. The McKinley Tariff Act of required all products imported to the United States be marked with their country of origin. So, if there is no such mark, the instrument is pre, or not made for the US market. Remember, the vast majority were. The act was amended further in to state that the place of origin must be in English.

Post-World War II labels carry further clues. A few words of Latin and Italian are useful, as well. Guarnerius and Stradivarius are the the Latinized forms of Guarneri and Stradivari.

Giuseppe is the Italian form of Josepf. You can also learn who is related to whom by knowing that filius means son of, nepos means descendant of, alumnus means student of, and frater or Fr. Instruments like the violin that use a bow to produce a sound are called bowed stringed instruments. The Arabian rabab and the rebec, which came from the orient in the middle ages and was played widely in Spain and France in the fifteenth century, are said to be the ancestors of the violin.

Near the end of the middle ages, a bowed stringed instrument called a fiddle appeared in Europe. In the East, the Chinese erhu and morin khur evolved from the rabab, and so they are relatives of the violin. Compared to its ancestors, the violin is in a class by itself in terms of completeness. In addition, it was not improved gradually over time, but appeared in its current form suddenly around Yet, none of these early violins exist today.

This history of the violin is inferred from paintings from this era that feature violins. With these two violin makers, the history of the violin emerges from the fog of legend to hard fact. Violins produced by these two still exist today. In fact, the oldest violin in existence today is one built by Andre Amati around