A Family heirloom. These instruments are typically attributed to Justin or Honoré Derazey, Mirecourt, France, ca. 1850-1870. from the shop of J.B. Vuillaume. Even Sotheby's, in 1987, identified it (with photos only) as a J.B. Vuillaume.

Here are some inconsistencies:

What can be read through the bass f hole on a very old label is: D. Gaspar da S(alo), i(n Brescia).  Only "alo" and " n Brescia" are fully readable.

Carved into the ribs with great skill is the abbreviated Latin  inscription:"VIVA FVI IN SILVIS DVM MORTVA DVL CE CANO"  Meaning,; Alive in the forest I was silent, now dead I sing sweetly" Though very similar, this is inconsistent with J.B. Vuillaume versions of the abbreviated Latin.

Additionally,  the quality of the wood is superlative.  The one piece back has very tight, very horizontal flames. Even the rib flames are vertical and consistent with no fading as is the deep flame of the maple on the neck and peg box. The top has a very consistent 1-1.5mm grain and again, perfectly parallel and perfectly aligned. 

The violin has ornamentation that includes leaves on the corners. The back has what is believed to be a 16th century scene of Bologna. It does not have the heavy carving below the base of the neck on the back like the J.B. Vuillaume's I have seen. I am not sure if the pegs and the tailpiece are original but they are also unusually well crafted. The MOP inlays are intricate and a pleasure to look at.

The bearded old mans head does not have the typical French collar.

My question would be, is this a precursor to the J.B. Vuillaume carved head violins and is actuality made by D. Gaspar Da Salo or is it just another J.B. Vuillaume?


I'll leave the rest to the experts..

Thank you all.

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It would be interesting to see a single photo of one of these millions made. Also, in light of the fact the city scene on the back consists of hundreds of individually made pieces of various species of wood, it seems unlikely that these could be produced in any real quantities.

I would like some empirical evidence to completely rule this out as an original, like a photo of another one of these in existence. Any ideas, anyone?

if the guys at sotheby's told you so, probably was april's fool or you didn't "hear" well....... or it is probably the usual story to sell the violin.

you know this is a public site, still it requires a MINIMUM knowledge to partecipate.

i personally won't take part to "medicine today" or "wall street problem" etc.etc.

so , a bit of class, please.

the bat

Here is the deal. I am not on a treasure hunt. I have a collection over 28 antique violins and I am trying to identify each one of them with the professionalism and integrity that some of the instrument may deserve.

The letter in 1987 from Sotheby’s is real .I also have a notarized certificate from 1981 naming this particular instrument a “J.B Vuillamume in caa. 1825”

I am the one casting doubt on the validity of this information because I noticed the differences as I pointed out in the opening forum posting. I have been and engineer, scientist and inventor for the extent of my professional career so forgive me if I tend to seek factual data and not opinion.

I have read many of the ‘gentleman’s’ forum responses and I believe that he is an expert and certainly more knowledgeable than I am in this particular field.  If I am terse, forgive me, my motivation is only to represent this collection of instruments in the most honest and forthcoming way. That being that case I have the task of going through every one of these instruments and prove or disprove there origin. What amazes me is how wrong the experts can be and how several organizations (that will go unnamed) have looked at the collection and  immediately pass all of them of as copies and, how wrong they have been,

The first violin in this collection was recently validated in London as a Derazey made copy of a Strad and was recently purchased from us by David Garrett. My wife saw the news headline describing the recent accident David had with his Guadagnini and she offered him the use of any instrument in our collection free of charge.

I think it is obvious that the current instrument in question (the carved head) is not a Derazey and probably not a da Salo but, is it one of many German copies? I have not been able to find any proof of this.

Thanks everyone.

Thank you very much for your lucid, well though out reply. I really appreciate it.

In Sotheby’s defense the pictures my late mother in law sent them in the 80's were not up to today’s digital standards.  

By grafted, do you mean a once separate part of the neck attached at a later time? I appears to be all one piece.