How can I tell if a Stradivarius violin i have is the real thing?

Question

the inside sticker Cremona, Antonius Stradivari is inside and the date is supposed to be 1723 with the cross and the letters but it says Germany on the top not the bottom of the sticker. The detail is great and the barnish although it has been somewhat abandoned is still shiny, online there is so much info and it is hard to tell and so not want to pay someone to take a look at it only to tell me it is worth nothing at all and it is in fact a copy before having some kind of certainty.

Answer 1

Odds are, it is not a true Stradivarious. The only way you can know for sure is to pay to have a professional look at it. By the way, don't use a professional the seller recommends.

Here are a few links that I found that might help.

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/tarisio/stradivari.htm

http://www.violinonline.com/chooseviolin.htm

http://www.thomsontalks.com/home/thestradivariusscam.html

Answer 2

How did you get ahold of such an instrument? I would be rather skeptical. The Stradivari instruments made around 1720 are usually valued in millions of dollars. It's believed that there are only around 700 of these still in existence, and very few are unaccounted for.