Violin Forum/Message Board

[MikeCooper]

Michael Darnton
how familiar are you with Amati? I was googling various violin topics and came across an image of this label. It's a clip art copy of course but is it a copy of a real label? Or just something that someone made up.

Would H. Amati have ever made a hand written label or would they have all been printed.

It's an obscure topic, I asked on the other forum and got no response.

[Michael Darnton]

Just off the top of my head, I don't think I've ever seen an H Amati labeled violin, even. I think they're incredibly rare, the Brothers Amati being the norm for that generation. But I really doubt that a real one would be hand written in the exact style of what a printed one would look like, as that one appears to be.

Tarisio says this about him: "From about 1575 to 1588 the two brothers collaborated under a joint Brothers Amati label. They ended their partnership abruptly in 1588, and Antonio left the workshop to his brother, who continued to label his instruments "Brothers Amati" even after Antonio's death in around 1610." They list six instruments "by" him, with only three bearing his label, but no label pix.

Searching google for a label I find a much more credible one pointed to Tarisio, but the link is dead. That label looks plausible, though, and is not hand written.
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[MikeCooper]

The reason I asked about the label is that it is almost identical to the H. Amati name on the back of the violin pattern in the National Music Museum.

I thought that if the label was confirmed as authentic then that would make the name on the pattern more convincing. Even though it was suggested that the Stradivari signature on the front may not be authentic. But to me it looks convincing.

I just like looking at old historical sources and contemplating what the old masters may have had in mind.

I did have an email from someone who said H. Amati relocated to Piacenza in 1697 so could have resorted to a handwritten label for a while. Who knows..

[Michael Darnton]

Id rather suspect that the person who faked up the label used that piece as their inspiration.
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[MikeCooper]

If it is a fake label, whoever did it, did a really good job of it.