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(9 votes) 
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damfino
Good sounding fiddles, grats.
Mark
Master the Frog and you have mastered the bow.
Albert Sammons
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damfino said
I know to take labels with a grain of salt...
Quite. Decoding the writing is always tricky. Nicolaus Sevarie is one possibility (they seem to have put careful serifs on the v making it hard to read as anything else. The letter after the v is impossible, though). It could be a French, Bohemian or Dutch name, rather than Italian. It could be a Bohemian cottage violin with a fake label. I'd take more photos from different angles in different lights, and lights of different colours, as the paper's foxing has varying colours. Otoh, if fake labels are more common than genuine ones, it will be a waste of effort.
These two links should be in a faq section here: -
http://www.luthiers-mirecourt......s_1924.htm
https://violininformation.webs.....uments.htm
As you can see, in Poidras nothing comes close. I like the sound of the violin, though. Get a proper luthier to do the bridge.
Actually Poidras has more French than Italian makers, so maybe it's not ideal. Or possibly France was much more populous than Italy and the market was bigger there.
Andrew
Verified human - the ignominy!
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@damfino Both fiddles sound pretty dang good! Great playing, too 
Characterize people by their actions and you will never be fooled by their words.
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I just got this back from being repaired and having the bridge reshaped (no more chunky feet) and it sound so good. I still have to do a new recording. I play the same tune I did before for a true comparison. he did say based on his experience it is bohemian, but from the late 1700s/early 1800s so while he isn’t sure if he can trust the label, the date range fits.
I did impulse purchase his personal fiddle (he’s in his late 70s and his kids don’t want his instruments so he offered me a good deal and threw in a few little antique bits he thought I’d appreciate, along with some tools). It’s an 1850s Saxony fiddle with a neat little flourish on the scroll. I’ll have to post pictures after work.
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This is so exciting. You have me wanting to go hunting for violins with a possible history again. it new ones, old ones with a story behind them. I just I love it.
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@Mouse Old fiddles with a story is what I’ve always wanted, I happened to buy from this guy at just the right time. He has one more interesting but not high quality one left and he’s not planning to acquire any more. He makes banjos and dulcimers and keeps getting too many orders and just wants to retire, lol.
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Here is the fiddle before repairs/bridge work and after.
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@damfino That was a great comparison. I love how you play with such fun! I liked them both. Thanks for doing that.
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both versions are great. the after is a little more focused in its sound to me.
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@damfino -
Oh, WOW! 🤗
Yep, you did great & should be HAPPY!
Repairs made a very noticeable difference - I LOVE IT!
Can't wait to see your other treasure, too!
Got any place to show them off locally & get in a little jamming while you're at it?
Don't give up hope of finding more info on that fiddle! Never know when you might run into someone, who knows someone...
Appreciate you sharing this!
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Thanks guys! I need to get better strings for it but I am enjoying this fiddle!
Here is the other new to me 1850s Saxony fiddle.. I also need new strings for this one. This one has a huge voice, it’s very loud. It was refinished by a local luthier in the 1990s, before this guy learned to do refinishing work. He said it had previously had a bad revarnish job.
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Thanks, damfino! They are really nice looking violins.
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@Mouse Thanks! The guy I got it from tried to see if the flourish on the back of the scroll would help identify the maker, but was never able to. The best guess was always that it was a graduation piece of sorts, they made it fancier to show they could, but he had hoped it was a signature of the maker.
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damfino
Grats on another good fiddle
Mark
Master the Frog and you have mastered the bow.
Albert Sammons
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@Mark thanks! They will likely be my last fiddles I buy, lol. At least they should be if I have any reason left, lol.
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@damfino
I love the sound of your antique violins, plus your playing is great!
I’m sure you may have done this already, and sorry if I’m pointing out the obvious, but…
I noticed the lovely violin blanket in your photos, and I popped a search for “Schmidt Brothers Violinmakers Cleveland Oh” into Bing. Several results came up immediately. I took the time to look at one on the maestronet website. (Of course, Nancy Drew would point out that the Schmidt Bros may have just sold the blanket, or case, or used violin, or had perhaps just done a repair. Or maybe they were the importers or the luthiers.)
Anyway, an interesting thread entitled “Old Schmidt Bros. Cleveland Business Card” has quite a bit of information about the shop, the history, and the luthiers. In 2019, a woman posted that the Schmidt Bros are her coworker’s family and she is working on the Schmidt genealogy for her! Might lend a smidge of history to your new acquisition. Another poster years back had old letters mailed from the Cleveland shop to an address in Germany.
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I love history and was also thinking of your 1700s to 1800s instrument. Where did it come from? Who carried it to Ohio? Is it truly from the late 1700s? If so, could it have been in the Northwest Territory before statehood? Was it there when parts of the Ohio territory were part of Virginia and the Virginia military district, where veterans of the American Revolution received land grants in payment for service? So many settlers traveled to Ohio from New Jersey and New York. Was this once played in an upscale, coastal, colonial parlor? So many historic fantasies contained in just that one instrument!
Thanks so much for sharing, and Enjoy these wonderful instruments!
Unfretted
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@Unfretted Thank you! He actually gave me one of those old business cards to go with the blanket. He said the violin isn’t from that shop, but he just always kept those pieces with it and wanted them to stay together. Plus a neat bit of local violin memorabilia 
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That’s wonderful!
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@damfino -
Gorgeous fiddle!
LOVE the scroll detail, the beautiful maple figuring, the inlay AND satin finish!!!
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Didn’t mean to disappear from here. Had to have my 15 year old dog put to sleep a month ago and it’s been a been rough since then.
since I’ve only been feeling the sad sappy sounding tunes, I decided to record a video with the 1800 fiddle from the first post here. It’s imperfect, but for the most part I was happy with this take. Really feeling this fiddle, I like it.
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