Vintage 3/4 Size Bienfait Violin
I just bought this in an eBay auction (archive of the orignal listing here ). From the little I have been able to find out, this was originally sold as a lower end beginner "trade" violin. One Luthier expert judges them as the equivalent of a Stentor Conservatoire (archived here ). Those Stentor violins in 3/4 size sell for £269 brand new and about £170 on eBay. As you can see from the archive original listing (above) I won the 100+ year old Bienfait violin in an eBay auction for just £12.99. Yet I see that someone else on eBay has a 3/4 size Bienfait for sale at an audacious £650! (archived here ). Another sold at auction for £220 ( here ). One full size sold for £300 on eBay (archived here ). I found another full size, in need of a little renovation, went for £180 at auction (archived here ) . I found a dealer selling a full size one of these for £395 (archived here ). And yet another for sale by a dealer for £850 (archived here ). And one for sale at $911 (archived her...