The story of fraudulent business practices in the violin trade is almost as old as violin making itself.
In 1685, the violinist Tomaso Vitali complained to the Duke of Modena that he had acquired a violin from the luthier Nicolo Amati by using a priest as an intermediary. He claimed to have paid 12 pistols for it. Soon, however, he was forced to accept that he had been deceived and that the instrument was in fact only worth three pistols.
↘︎ Falsely promoted instruments