This is almost certainly a German factory violin (or maybe Czech) from
the early 20th/late 19th century. The real "Caspar Da Sale" was
actually Gasparo da Salo and he was a 16th century makers in Italy,
one of the pioneers in developing what ultimately became the shape of
the violin (and in Da Salo's case particularly the viola) as we know
it today. (BTW, an almost identical question was asked here just a
few weeks ago. Same maker, same spelling.)
The fact that the label is "Caspar" vice Gasparo is one fairly obvious
clue. The fact that it is "Caspar" vice "Kaspar" (the German form of
the name) might be a clue that this violin was imported to North
America, very possibly for sale by a catalog house such as Sears
Roebucks & Co. They imported thousands of relatively cheap violins
and labeled them with names of famous makers, not as a scam, but to
distinguish the various lines of violins they marketed e.g the
"Stradivarius" model, the "Guarnerius" model. These violins were mass
produced by German and Czech makers, mostly in centers in South
Germany/Bohemia such as Mittenwald, Markneukirchen, Bubenruth and
others. Then (as now) factories existed in these towns for making
these rather inexpensive violins. As a gross generality, these
violins are somewhat better than the cheapest Asian violins currently
being imported and offered for sale on Ebay or even at general purpose
music stores (e.g. guitar and drum shops) where the owners should know
better.
But, one could be wrong, or (more likely) you might have a pretty good
example of one of these factory fiddles. It is probably worth your
effort to take this instrument to a qualified violin repairman to get
a preliminary lookover. He will be able to tell you if it has any
merit at all. It might be worth fixing up and even lending to a violin
student if no one in your family plays. Closeting a violin is among
the worst things you can do to it. Lending it may at least keep title
to it in the family if it has some sentimental value. Fixing up in
this sense usually means cleaning up, checking the soundness, checking
and repairing any loose seams, fitting a new bridge and soundpost and
equiping with modern strings (your old strings are most likely gut
core and if they are old, they are toast.) This sort of job is not
particularly expensive. If there is a bow, it will almost certainly
need rehairing, but a lot of bows with these violin outfits were junk
to begin with. Also, a closeted violin case is likely to be infested
with a mite we generically call "rosin bugs". They eat at bow hair. If
there was a bow present, and many of the hair strands are broken, that
is a sure sign of rosin bugs. Empty and vacuum the case and expose the
opened case to direct sunlight to kill them. Put a few mothballs in
the case when you close it up again.
Violins and violas of the real Gasparo da Salo' are worth a
substantial amount of money, often into six figures in US dollars. You
could get lucky, but don't count on it.
Jon Teske, violinist
Post by BullfrogMy father played the violin when I was a child. When he died, I brought
the instrument home with me as his grieving younger widow claimed, when I
asked about it, not to know of it and said "if you can find it you can
have it." It was safely stored in the case he always kept it in and in
the same safe place he always put it. Inside the instrument it says
"Caspar Da Sale in Brescia."
I'm not a musician but am interested in learning something about it.
Daddy did not come from an affluent family so could not have paid a lot
for it. I don't even know how early he began playing or if he ever had a
lesson (but assume he must have - though he played the piano by ear and
could play any music he heard) but he was born in 1911 (I think). Thank
you. BCH