In this image is a 1800s French instrument. This antique violin is appreciably more compact in all dimensions when compared to a modern Violin. Its body is wider, shorter and thicker. Also the finger board is shorter and the bridge over which the strings pass is lower. In addition, the older violins lack a chin rest that is commonly a modern accessory.
The royalty in the stringed-instrument family are, of course, the violins, but the fine old specimens the very rare 16th to 18th Century European instruments made by the Amati family, Antonio Stradivari or the Guarneris are owned by museums and reserved for concert use. Violins found in junk shops and second-hand stores may bear labels with these famous name, but they are factory copies. They may be good playing instruments but have no value to collectors. However, there are interesting American-made violins and cellos, made mostly in the 19th Century to satisfy the need for church instruments in New England. They are not important playing instruments but are valuable historical artifacts and as such are much prized.
