An old Violin, is it worth anything to you?

Ok, first things first, I pretty much made this account just to ask your collective opinion on this item, my apologies if that is frowned upon.

So, I have this very old violin. Well, actually my grandparents have this very old violin. It has been in the family for generations. It was valuated a while back, but grans lost the papers. Its a fake stradivarius, supposedly made by one of his pupils. How it landed in Mexico is anyone's guess, but land it did and my great grandparents used to practice with it. Sadly, nobody in the family has any idea of how to take care of it. Sometime later I might post the whole story, I just need to get it from the source.

We have tried to get it looked at again, but for some reason or another it just hasn't worked out. So, is it worth anything?

 

Welcome!
Stand by for others to tune in on this.

 

can you see any labels or markings inside ?

 

Most fake Strads are pretty worthless. Most were made in Germany in the 19th century and are of lower quality. The chance that you have copy made by a pupil of Stradivarius is pretty slim. If he was a master maker, why wouldn't he use his own name? Based on what I can see and my limited knowledge, your violin looks better than many copies I have seen. All this said, it is impossible for most of us here to really evaluate your violin from photographs. While there is a slim chance that you have a worthy copy, there is still a slim chance. You really need to have someone knowledgeable take a look.

 

Man, if only they had not lost the papers. Well, I will try to convince my grandparents to get it looked at again, will come back tomorrow with the story as I know it, if only for completeness's sake.
Also, yes it has a label inside. The one that says Antonius Stradivarius Cremonensis, I don't remember the year, will tell you that tomorrow.

 

Here's a query about whether a Stradivarius is fake or genuine. The first reply has good info on Stradivari's history and the history of Stradivarius' reproductions.

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081106063215AAqIvN1

--- Susan

 

The photos cut off too much of the front, back and scroll to allow for a good photo evaluation.

Also need a full length side view, top of scroll to bottom of body.

 

I've been playing violins for more than 50 years, but am not qualified to evaluate one from photos. The dovetail neck joint is quite unusual- I've never see one like that- and may indicate a lesser-quality instrument.
For many years almost all low-quality instruments had fake Stradivari labels, so that is no help. I'd take it to a good violin shop.
The American Federation of Violin and Bow Makers has standards and a directory that should help you find a shop that will give an honest appraisal; it also has an article about the many fake Stradivarius instruments, suggesting "read before calling Sotheby's."
http://www.afvbm.org/