Label

What it is

The label is the small paper slip glued to the inside of the back, visible through the left f-hole. More of this kind of thing is in the anatomy section.

It typically names the maker, the city and the year.

It is the first thing anyone looks at when trying to identify a violin, and it is almost always the least reliable evidence available.

Why most labels are wrong

This surprises people and it is worth being direct about.

The great majority of violins bearing a famous name are not by that maker.

There are three reasons.

Copies were made openly and honestly. From the eighteenth century onward, workshops produced instruments in the style of famous makers and labelled them accordingly, sometimes with wording like "after Stradivari" or "copy of". Over time the qualifying words wore away, were removed, or were simply not printed.

Factory production used famous names as model designations. German and Bohemian workshops in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries produced instruments in enormous numbers, labelled with famous names to indicate the pattern used. These were not intended to deceive anyone at the time.

Deliberate forgery exists and always has, though it accounts for fewer instruments than the first two categories.

The practical consequence: a label reading Antonius Stradivarius Cremonensis Faciebat Anno 1721 is overwhelmingly likely to be a factory instrument from Markneukirchen or Mirecourt, made around 1900, and worth a small fraction of what the label suggests. Use the free note identification to check yourself on this.

What actually identifies an instrument

Experts barely look at labels.

The scroll. The most individual part of any violin and the clearest signature of a maker's hand.

The f-holes. Their shape, angle, and cutting.

The arching. The profile of the plates.

The purfling. How it is inlaid and mitred at the corners.

The varnish. Its colour, texture and how it has worn.

The wood. Species, cut, and figure.

Construction method. Built-in versus inserted blocks, and other internal evidence.

Measurements. Body length, bout widths, rib heights, compared against known examples.

A qualified expert assesses these and forms a judgement. A label is treated as one piece of information among many, and a suspicious one is simply ignored.

Getting an instrument identified

If it matters, a formal appraisal from a recognised expert or auction house is the route.

Photographs alone are not enough for a serious opinion. The instrument must be examined.

Certificates from recognised authorities carry weight; opinions from unqualified sources do not, and an old certificate from an unknown name is not evidence.

Be cautious of anyone offering to buy an instrument immediately after telling you it is valuable.

What labels do tell you

They are not useless.

A workshop label from a known factory dates and locates an instrument reasonably reliably, since there was no reason to falsify it.

A modern maker's label, on an instrument made in the last century by a living or recently deceased maker, is usually genuine and is the correct way to identify it.

Repair labels, added by luthiers who have worked on the instrument, are often honest and can build a useful history.

Multiple labels tell a story about the instrument's life.

Reading a label

Held up to the left f-hole with a light, most labels are legible.

Printed labels with a handwritten year, where the century is printed and the last two digits written in, are characteristic of workshop production.

Fully printed labels including the year suggest factory work.

Fully handwritten labels are more likely, though not certainly, to be from an individual maker.

Paper and ink age can be assessed by an expert, and a label that looks newer than the instrument is a red flag.

Where it comes up in playing

Never.

Its relevance is entirely to identification, value and provenance.

How it is taught

Not taught, but frequently asked about.

Students and parents discover a famous name inside an old family violin and want to know what they have.

The honest answer, given kindly, is that the label is probably not accurate, that the instrument may still be perfectly good, and that its value as a playable instrument is a separate question from its value as an antique.

Many excellent student instruments carry misleading labels and are worth playing regardless of what the paper says.

The conversation this causes

Every violin teacher has this conversation, usually with a parent who has found a family instrument in an attic.

The label says a famous name. The instrument looks old. The internet suggests it might be worth a great deal.

The kind and accurate answer has three parts.

The label is almost certainly not accurate, for reasons that involve no dishonesty by anyone in the instrument's history.

The instrument may nonetheless be a perfectly good playable violin, and many workshop instruments from a century ago are better than modern instruments at the same price.

Its value as an instrument to play and its value as an antique are separate questions, and the first one matters more for a student.

A luthier can assess playability inexpensively. A formal appraisal costs more and is only worth pursuing if there is genuine reason to think the instrument is unusual.

Before spending money on an appraisal

Have a luthier look at it first. Ten minutes with someone who handles instruments daily will establish whether it is worth pursuing further.

Most family violins are workshop instruments worth a modest amount, in need of setup work, and entirely playable once fixed. That is a good outcome, just not the one the label suggested.

There is a limit to what reading can fix. To have someone check your how the instrument is built directly, book a no-commitment evaluation lesson. Private and group violin lessons in Cumming, Sugar Hill, Dunwoody and Kennesaw, or call 470-789-2422.