Stradivarius?

[Clyde Hollinger]

Kristinn,

If it were my violin, I would check it out, even though the chance that it is
a fake is very high.  The encyclopedia (OK, I'm not much of a researcher) says
the violins were beautiful to look at.  Is it beautiful?  He made about 1100
instruments and the whereabouts of about 700 are known.  Also, "because the
value of Stradivarius instruments is so great, sometimes running into the
hundreds of thousands of dollars, many attempts have been made to forge them."

Regards, Clyde

Kristinn Leifsson wrote:

> Hi list,
>
> I was wondering whether some of you might have any knowledge of
> Stradivarius violins.
>
> The thing is, I was tuning for a man that showed me an old violin that he
> kept in his closet.  His great uncle (or something) acquired it in
> Germany.  It was a little bit cracked and looked quite old, as I say.  The
> man was joking about it being a Stradivarius.  Well, I was really amazed
> when I looked inside it.
>
> It said; Antonius Stradiuarius Cremonentis, and the year 1711 was there
> also.  Well, I know it´s more than likely that it´s a fake, but hey,
> stranger things have happened.  I´m going to talk to a violin maker, but
> thought I´d mention this.
>
> Any input?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Kristinn