From www.theadvertisernews.com

Robert Perry, of Murray Bridge, with the violin he bought in Hobart in 1976.

Second fiddle to a master
By LOUISE NUNN
18jul05

GRANDMA dies and her family finds an old violin tucked away in the shed. They peer inside and the faded inscription on the discolored label gives them a start. It might say Guarnerius, or Stradivarius, two of the great names in violin making.

There's even a date – 17-something.

They reach for the phone but who to ring first – the violin expert or the travel agent?

Here's the rub. The chances of uncovering an original Guarnerius or Stradivarius in Australia are extremely slim.

"There's a well-known saying that Stradivarius made 1200 violins and 3000 have turned up in Sydney," Adelaide violin expert Tom Lewis says. Despite this, Mr Lewis says, that old family violin may still be worth something. I accompanied Mr Lewis to Murray Bridge to look at a violin owned by Robert Perry. Mr Perry contacted The Advertiser after reading a story about a 1704 Guarnerius owned by Singapore violinist Min Lee. The violin was bought for Lee by the people of Singapore with $US500,000 ($662,000) raised through private and public donations. It got Mr Perry thinking. He pulled out the violin he bought for $50 while touring Tasmania with his family's circus in 1976. As he thought, the inscription inside read Joseph Guarnerius, 1754. His heart skipped a beat.

However, when Mr Lewis arrived and cast his eye over the instrument, it quickly became apparent it was not an original Guarnerius but a factory copy.

"There were a lot of factories in Europe making violins 200 years ago," Mr Lewis says. "They had to get a pattern from somewhere, so they took outlines from early handmade violins by makers from the golden era such as Stradivarius, Guarnerius and Amati. There were a lot of different factories, and they made different grades of instruments, to suit different budgets and abilities. They are not fakes – the information on the labels indicate they are faithful copies of particular violins."

Mr Lewis says Mr Perry's violin was probably made in Bavaria, Germany, about 1880. It is of reasonable quality but some very bad repairs have rendered it virtually worthless. "It would cost more to restore it to a playable condition than it's worth," he says. "Our borer friends have had a go at it as well."

Word of The Advertiser's interest in Mr Perry's violin spread. His mate, Terry Wilksch, who lives just over the way at Murray Bridge, took the opportunity to bring along a violin, handed down by his mother, with Stradivarius inscribed inside.

Mr Lewis identifies the instrument as a factory copy made about 1920. It is of lesser quality than Mr Perry's but in far better condition. To add interest, it is in its original case and all the trimmings are original – from the sheep-gut strings to the set of pitch pipes still in their original packaging.

Mr Lewis places a value of roughly $400 on the instrument. He says very high-quality Chinese imports are driving down the value of older violins like Mr Wilksch's.

"The Chinese are making violins of superior quality," he says. "The materials are first-class, the varnishes are first class – they are a force to be reckoned with in every respect." Mr Lewis says there are a number of reasons we are unlikely to ever see a genuine Stradivarius or Guarnerius turn up in Australia. Our colonising immigrants were mostly poor and would not have been able to afford a quality violin, let alone one by a master maker.

Futhermore, relatively few were made, and while many still exist today, many have been lost through wars and neglect.

Mr Lewis says "the sum total of what you have in your hands" is the violin expert's guide to the quality and provenance of an instrument. The quality of the timber, the colour of the varnish and thickness of the head or scroll are just some indicators.

The 1800s heralded changes in music and the design of violins, including the length of the neck, which is longer in instruments made after 1790.

"But, really, you would need at least five lifetimes to become a true expert, because we simply don't see enough instruments in Australia, particularly compared with Europe," Mr Lewis says.

He says violins are always worth investigating. "There have been a lot of good instruments brought into Australia," he says.