1860s Francois Richard 4/4 Violin

These Francois Richard-branded violins (often with a Paris reference) all point to about mid-1800s in manufacture. This one is super-elegant with a clean, powerful, full voice and perfect handling. It's also very pretty and has an absurd amount of figure in the flamed back and sides.

It looks like it'd had a neck reset and new fingerboard at some point and, yes, the tailpiece is defintely swapped. It came to the shop as a customer repair job with its top off and various cracks needing cleats and repair. It also needed a patch for the soundpost area as that'd been indented pretty severely into the top and was beginning to make a nice crack there.

Now that it's all glued back-up and pat, it plays beautifully and should be safe to saw away on with the bow for quite some time.

Maple! Maple! I just want to eat that.