Antonio Stradivari 1667 ca. VL Aranyi
This violin bears an original label stating: ‘Antonius Stradivarius Faciebat Anno 1667’. When the instrument was inspected by the Hills in 1920, the date of the label may have seemed unlikely, prompting the firm to consider the label a fake and to attribute the fabrication of the instrument to a date slightly different from the one accepted nowadays: ‘the violin […] was made by Antonio Stradivari about the year 1666–1670, the label dated 1707, which the instrument bears, is fictitious.’ It seems that their opinion was shared by the luthier Emil Herrmann. Although in the 1940s the ciphers of the label were probably given a different interpretation as E. Herrmann and Rudolph Wurlitzer both certified that the violin had been produced in 1667‘as indicated by the original label it bears.’ Arnaldo Baruzzi, on the other hand, writes in: ‘La casa nuziale di Antonio Stradivari 1667–1680’ that the label was altered from 1667 to 1668: ‘La sua etichetta è stata alterata, in modo da leggere 1668, anziché 1667.’
Further Details
Antonio Stradivari Set 1, Volume 1, Page 32
