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Violin Appraisal Information

 

Lashof Violins performs Appraisals of instruments for Insurance or Market Value purposes. The difference between the two appraisals is an Insurance Appraisal will generally be for a higher amount--this allows the owner of the instrument to replace it with an instrument of like value, if the insured instrument is destroyed.      With an Insurance Appraisal, previous repairs have less to do with the instrument's replacement value. If a violin has a repaired crack or a non original scroll and you lose the violin, you are not going to go shopping for another violin with a repaired crack and replaced scroll.      Unlike the Insurance Appraisal, the Fair Market Value Appraisal takes in all of the factors that affect price, especially condition. With this in mind, a violin with an Insurance Appraisal could be valued $2000.00 but have a Fair Market Value of very little. A person will ask for this is the type of appraisal if he or she is selling the instrument or looking to buy the instrument from someone.  What you pay for an instrument has little to do with the Insurance Appraisal Value.    In general, the newer the instrument, the better the condition it is in and the "cleaner" the provenance, the closer the Insurance and Market Value will agree with each other.     When you purchase an instrument at Lashof Violins, the price is based on the Fair Market Value, not the Insurance Value. In addition, when you purchase an instrument from Lashof Violins an Insurance appraisal is available for that instrument at no charge.    Appraisals done at Lashof Violins clearly state which version of appraisal you are getting. Our Appraisals are prepared using guidelines from the Appraisers Association of America.  Please note: Due to the numerous factors involved in determining an instrument's value, Lashof Violins only offers appraisals for instruments physically in the store. Even photographs of an instrument and a description of the label do not provide enough information about the instrument for us to accurately determine a value and sometimes are not enough to even say where the instrument was made.
	There has been much written about violin fraud and fictitious labels being placed inside instruments. The label that appears inside an instrument may have little to do with its actual origins. It only takes moments to place a label in violin from the outside. There are many books with actual reproductions of labels in them that many unscrupulous violin dealers have copied and inserted inside a violin. The true appraiser will only look at the label after they have determined the most likely origins of the instrument.     Recently we had correspondence with someone who wanted to know if the violin they had was a genuine Amati. After reading the the instrument's label and looking at the instrument, we were able to determine that the instrument was actually made around 1900. One clue that made it very evident that the instrument was not an original was that the label inside the instrument was in blue ink--blue ink was not invented until 200 years after Amati's death. Labels In 1891 the McKinley Tariff Act required that items that were imported in to the United States be marked with the country of origin. In 1914 this act was again revised to require that the words "Made in"  also be used. Once again in 1921 the act was revised to require that the country of origin name be in English. So a violin that is labeled "Bavaria" or "Nippon" would most likely  be made between 1891 and 1914. "Made in Italia" might be before 1921.  A violin labeled "Made in Japan" was probably made after 1921. Prior to 1921, instruments most likely have been labeled "Made in Nippon."  After WWII during the US occupation of Japan, items made for export were marked "Made in Occupied Japan" or perhaps "Occupied Japan." Violins labeled "Made in Germany" are most likely manufactured between 1921 and WWII. After the split of Germany until its reunification in the 1990's,  labels were marked "Made in West Germany" or "Made in East Germany." This basically means, if your "attic" violin says that it is an Antonio Stradivari 1707, but it also says "Made in Germany," the violin is obviously NOT an authentic Stradivari, but a factory-made copy. You don't need an appraiser to tell you this, but you still may want to seek out an opinion as to if it is worth $200.00 or $2000.00.

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1- F East Diamond Ave. Gaithersburg, MD 20877   301-330-2606