Certification and Valuation
We give advice as to whether a certification or valuation is necessary. After a first consultation we can offer the following types of valuation.
Valuation of an instrument with existing certification from an acknowledged expert, Price €130
Spoken certification, Price 2% of its value, minimum of € 85
Written valuation without pictures if no certificate is existing, Price 3% of its value, minimum of €300
Certification with pictures, Price 5% of its value, minimum of €750
With a written evaluation of your instrument, you will receive confirmation of the place origin and date of manufacture and whenever possible the name of the maker. Also included is an evaluation of the instruments conditions. Valuations of Instruments from contemporary makers are unfortunately not available from us. These are usually valued directly by the original maker. In the event that a valuation is necessary for insurance purposes, we will gladly contact the maker for you. The valuation of stringed instruments is a very difficult and time consuming task. Only around 5% of instruments that we know today are in a relatively unaltered condition, allowing us a doubt free determination of the maker and origin. There have been in the past many violin makers whose working techniques and styles changed throughout their careers. In addition, employees working in the respective workshops could change the result of their violin making master considerably. This means that today, an expert must always be open minded towards new discoveries or newly uncovered archive material and should make this knowledge during buying and selling openly available. The question of which instrument came directly from the hand of a master and which were created by followers in the surroundings or just in the workshop of a violin maker becomes more and more important. If you own an instrument or would like to buy one, we would be happy to advise you in order to give you peace of mind. We are happy to be your professional expert support in a very unclear market.