Arizona silver belt., 1890-05-03
RANCHES OF FIDDLERS
SOMETHING ABOUT THE WOllNS
 OF FAMOUS MAKERS.

Instruments Used by Some Experts.
 If poor old Antonio Stradivarius could
 come to life again and see the thousands
 of violins now bearing his label, l feel
 sure the old gentleman would be sent
 once more to his grave with shame and
 modification. The same could be said
 of the several Guarneri, chief of whom
 was Joseph (del Jesu), and likewise of
 Amati. Bergonzi, Ruggieri, Stainer,
 Guadagnini, Gagliano, Maggini and many others
 For many years the manufacturers of common fiddles in Germany, which sell ill the United States at from S7 to SEQ, have labeled them ''Stradivarius, :" "Guarnerius, etc. Yet they must know that any one acquainted with the merits and value of the violins of these two great makers would not buy them for such, and if they are made for farmers, sailors and cowboys, or for class who never heard of either Stradivarius or Guanerius, the manufacturers must know that the aabels Of these two and other great makers do not help to sell them. Yet they continue to make them and paste in these labels ad libitum.
 PITFALLS FOR AMATEUR BUYERS. ! This is not so serious a grievance, however, for the price asked generally indicates the character of the violin, but what is really in the way of one desir- ing to purchase a fine violin made by any of the Brescia, or Cremona, or even French, German or English makers, is the traffic in labels practiced so much today by European dealers, and were it not that we have in New York some fine judges Of violins who do not go by labels, many artists and amateurs in this country and city would have fallen victims to the practices of the many dishonest dealers throughout Europe.
 There are hundreds of violins in this city alone made probably by makers con temporaneous with the Cremona makers, who initiated their more skillfuI breth- ren, which are bought for and labeled as coming from the workshop of the great makers. There are also several so called ''Strads'' in this city and throughout the world for which larSe-in fact, enormous sums have been given, the genuineness of which is doubted by able and compe- tent critics.
 There are hundreds of fine violins throughout Europe and America which have genuine Stradivarius or Guane- rius or Amati top or back, and the rest is either initiated or made up of other old violins by Italian makers.
 There are thousands of fine old violins Italian, French, German, TyroIean, etc., both in Europe and America, which can not possibly be identified as having been made by any particular maker, no mat ter how good the expert may be- If you want to hear differences of opinion" borrow violin and go to the scores Of dealers and makers in this city and it will repay you, for unless it has a very promi- nent and marked characteristic of some maker you will most probably have no two opinions alike. This is not intended to reflect on their judgment, but simply to show the difficulty of placing or at tributing the many old violins of today.
 FORGERIEs IN RIDDLES.
 have seen and heard many of those nameless violins which were finer in tone, both as to pos'er and quality, than many of the Amati, etc., really authen- ticated, and for which five times the price had been paid. 1 have seen old Italian violins, beautifully modelled, well made and of superb tone, labeled "Giarnerius Amati," and even "Stradivarius," and attributed to these makers ten or fifteen years after they were dead, and some as having been made by them several years before they were born. So the question naturally arises, how can one tell or who can tell real ''Strad" or a Guarnerius or an Amati or a Ruggieri or Bergonzi or Maggini or Gagliano or Sanctus Seraphino or Montagnana or Gasporo da Sal0?
 No one can tell 'Strad" if la has never seen one. Knowledge must be based on having seen not only one, but several, as all ''Srads' are rot alike. h. deed one must be familiar with all the great and authenticated "Strads" ROW extart to be &R expert, for there are many resembling each other. There are TO two alike. The eye must be cultivated to know them, as an expert in painting knows Corot, or Daubigny, or a Vibert, and so thoroughly versed in the minute characteristics of the constituent | parts of the violin as to detect a fine imi- | tation from real one, to say nothing of | the superb varnish used by the Cremona makers, the manufacture of which isyet l a lost art, notwithstanding the many so | called discoveries of its secret.
 And in the same way only can the | violins of the other great makers be | known, identified and distinguished from | the really fine limitations of today and of 1 the past. Therefore, to be familiar with the works of the great makers in minute detail one must travel, see and study the great violins of the world in the hands of collectors artists and amateurs.
 It may interest many "fiddlers'' to know that Paganini played on noble specimen of a Joseph Guarnerius and now owned by the city of Genoa, to whom he willed it. Sivori plays on a copy of this violin hy Vuillaume, a noble for which, it is said, he has refused S2,000. The immortal Joachim plays on ''Strad," or should say on ''Strads," for he owns several of them.
 Sarasatc also plays on "Strad." Wil- helmj plays on Lupot and "Stxad," and l have also heard him play on @ Gemunder Mime. Norman-NeruIau uses the famous ''Strad" left to her by Ernst. New York Herald
 The Course Of Storms.