Most people think that all existing Strads are accounted
for. If you want a definitive answer, you need to invest
some time and money in taking the thing to a major city
where there are experienced repair/appraiser shops. If you
need references, I can help you find them.
There are lots of copies around, of varying quality, and
some use fake ID's within the fiddle itself. I would say
that the likelihood of it being a real strad approaches
zero, but, if you want to find out for sure, you gotta spend
the time and money to go where the expertise is.
Eric Siegel
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