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 [log in to unmask]