Beautiful 1923 Italian Workshop Violin
This outstanding 1923 Italian violin is in excellent condition and delivers a beautiful, responsive sound ideal for the professional player. It features a striking one-piece flamed maple back and is in exceptionally perfect condition for a violin of this age. Without cracks, chips, or woodworm damage!
Recently fully restored and professionally set up by Phil Whitehead at The String Workshop, it is fitted with new ebony pegs, a new Despiau bridge, a correctly fitted new soundpost, a new ebony Pusch tailpiece with built in carbon fibre fine tuners, a new ebony chin rest, and fresh Larsen Tzigane strings. Everything is ready to play at the highest level.
The instrument combines the mature tonal character of a century-old Italian workshop violin with the reliability and precision of a modern professional setup. Projection, clarity, and warmth are well balanced across the registers, making it suitable for orchestral, chamber, or solo work.
A rare opportunity to own a well-preserved, fully refurbished Italian instrument from 1923 that is ready for immediate professional use.
**About the Label**
The label reads: “tipo – s. Pagano – copy – fabrica e scuola italiana Milano – modello (a cioffi) 1923.”
This indicates a Milanese workshop instrument made in 1923 in the style of the Neapolitan maker Alberto Cioffi. “S. Pagano” refers to Salvatore Pagano, a well known dealer of Italian instruments. “Fabrica e scuola italiana Milano” confirms production by an Italian workshop and school in Milan. The violin is therefore a period Italian commercial instrument of very good quality, modelled on Cioffi’s work.
The Latin phrase "DUM VIXI TACUI" translates to "“While I lived, I was silent”. Its the first half of a beloved classical motto about a tree that lived silently in the forest that later was carved into a violin and could then sing sweetly!
"Dum vixi tacui; mortua dulce cano"
“While I lived I was silent; now that I am dead, I sing sweetly.”
You are welcome to visit The String Workshop in Mairangi Bay and "Try before you buy!!"