What is history behind old violin with inner label Antonius Stradiuvarius Cremonensis?
“Since well before the turn of the twentieth century, manufacturers of violins, often nestled in the valleys of southern as well as western and eastern Germany, were producing tens of thousands of violins annually, labeled “Antonius Stradiuarius, Cremonenfis Faciebat Anno 17 ” and had a circular embellishment on these labels which included a cross above the initials “A” and “S”. More often than not, the last two digits of the date were penciled or inked in by hand. Sometimes it was left blank. These manufacturers, housed in such towns as “Bubenreuth”, “Mittenwald”, ” Markneukirchen” to mention a few, mass produced these violins, in part by hand or completely by machine, and, until 1957, labeled them exactly as the master did. After that date, the words “Copy of” were often included on the labels. They were also made world-wide in such places as Bulgaria, China, Czechoslovakia, France, Japan, England and elsewhere. Millions of these instruments exist today. Antonio, along with his sons
