Pre1881  !!  It has original baroque style(short/straight) neck No grafts  original old neck.  Has Noticibly  short upon meeting this old bosh ♥ has it's Original scroll in old British swan neck style! -this was Characteristic of Ruddiman & Hardie schools among other early UK british isles makers.  It's  a sight to behold.Neck is attached the old scottish/english way with 1 nail/screw. 1 tiny pin placed at the top of back plate at some point in it's history as well. 1 PART BACK!!! beautifully designed. 

(This type of neck attachment  wasn't really done outside of the British isles , was common there in the 18th century into the 19th) . there is an old shim that's been placed under the fingerboard, to raise the height to traditional modern standards. (Shim shown in photos)

shim is solid. Very well done blends in with neck well. 

But it could be removed because, as is the shim makes it claim a slightly higher bridge than is needed, for baroque set up, but it is very much playable as is.  I'd love to see it go to someone who would return it to baroque period set up ♥  All signs say this is a transitional period instrument

- from when people were upgrading old baroque violins&converting them to modern standards. 

Inside we find writing of the old repair labels: 

ÆShilling 1891 stratton (the name of several towns in the UK in England Scotland) AE shilling first bought '81  

fundy Co NIF?or Nis?  This is the most mysterious to me nis can  sometimes  refer to an abbreviation to a trade tax and sales of goods in the old trans-Atlantic  trade system  between the UK& Canada...NIF? I have no explanation for it other than it being a reference to the trade tax system.

M.F.T. or M.R.T. no idea what m.f.t/ mrt  stands  for , or why there is writing mentioning both a place in canada, and  a place in the UK, but i did some more digging, and there was an old sailing company that operated out of the bay of fundy Canada &the Uk, that went back&forth to the UK through out the history of the company called fundy Co. That operated from the 1600s-1800s 

 Back to the violin, It has many features of a typical english/Scottish high bellied baroque 'whale back'style &late 18th century period violins, and features of folk art British fiddles. No purfling &prominent bouts(also typical of early scottish work) -see Pamela's early Music instrument museum web page to see what I mean-Whoever built this clearly  has knowledge of the scottish especially aberdeen school/ way of making& knowledge of  18th century english violin making .Has Typical old British isles wide grain wood & dark spirit varnish( wide grain was frowned upon  elsewhere but accepted and experimented with in the British isles & sometimes Scandinavia/holland&the northern baltic regions) the dark spirit varnish can be found amongst old British makers especially the scottish ones & they had Loads of secret recipes amongst themselves) There's various old minor repairs that are all solid&professionally done 

Wing crack at bottom of left soundhole -wing cracks are indicative of a violin's age- note these are not  usually seen in instruments that are less than 70-100 years old- wingcracks are  signs of the fiddles age 🎻 Yes you see A top crack LOL - there was once  an old top crack  at some point in this old fiddles life as well - but it has been Profesionally repaired  and is solid. I suggest The center of the top plate could possibly  benefit from a silk patch as the wood is quite thin, but it is solid and the repair is well done.No,  It's not in danger of collapsing or anything but a skilled luthier could  add to this fiddles longevity by placing a silk patch there. More info I found during my research:stratton at this time was home to a large romany traveller population& 'Shilling' indeed appears in the British directory of romany&scottish traveller 'gipsy'historic names, I am of the belief that Shilling didn't make this, he repaired it , and worked on it, it was probably their personal instrument But it could quite possibly be an old romany folk art fiddle. I've heard they Had their own fiddle market and made some legendary  fiddles for playing their lovely folk music. (the way shilling doodles so freely ,tells me this was probably his personal instrument he felt comfy working on+ also it says ' a.e. shilling first bought '81- which means shilling most likely didn't make it if he bought it , looks like he bought it In 81& opened it up 10 years later in 1891, did some repairs and put it back together again. ) I'm not sure what the fundy relevance is here , but I know Atlantic Canada had loads of British and scottish immigrants back In the 1700s-1800s , so it's also possible this violin was built in canada by a British or scottish immigrant? Or that it belonged to someone with connections to fundy who brought it to canada- Atlantic Canada Had its own old fiddle trade and fiddling is a huge part of old maritime culture. The old time cape Breton fiddlers brought traditional old British isles fiddles over with them. Maybe shilling sailed thru fundy with it? 

I think  MFT /MRT is the original maker- as it looks to be the 'oldest' looking  writing inside the box- 

but I have no knowledge of who MFT/MRT could be, but - it is possible MFT/MRT  is another person who worked on the fiddle after or before Shilling In attempting to identify what mft/mrt could mean my

Other research  indicates it could  possibly be an abbreviation For 

Maker Richard Tobin -/Master/Mr. Richard Tobin - 

he's a very interesting character who made fiddles of varying qualities from primative&crude to master level. He used various makers' patterns and his own unique ones , he was also known to place fake amati & other Italian masters labels inside of his own work to compete with what was  popular at the time & pass his work off as an Italian master work- examples of his work are quite  rare so there's not much to compare to Tobin was known for experimenting with wood grain placing wider grain on the bass side of the top plate-which this violin definitely has ! A Tobin expert would know more , I'm the ruddiman savvy  collector/player and his traits jump out to me the most, possibly because I dunno much about Tobin. 

In any case  this amazing british /Scottish /UK made old violin  late 18th  century  work  regardless of it's author's name-it is Beautiful& has very high arching, just like other old english&scottish high bellied violins of the 17th&18th centuries.the violin has loud warm deep tones&sings amazingly. wing crack indicates it's age. it is at least from 1881 but in my professional violinist opinion it is a little older, I would guess late 18th century (1760s-1790s) to no later than early 19th century1800-1820ish) 

***I have shown this instrument to a very well known well respected expert on antique british isles violins

 Who also believes it is  late 18th century  scottish provincial  work, possibly made in Edinburgh  , or north east Scotland  (aberdeen)**  again a ruddiman/hardie school indication  as I originally Sussed ^

 What we have is a Jacobite revival period scottish master fiddle that went around England and to canada, A  

Well travelled old thing ,  ready to sing of it's  stories of generations of travels. 

Looks like Shilling worked on it&added his repair labels in the 1880s. Most likely made by mft /mrt who was ruddiman or hardie trained or informed, if he isn't Richard tobin himself. 

There is No lower nut ! This instrument is full of peculiarities, instead it has a unique rustic& folksy touch of a built in groove saddle  many baroque instruments did not have saddles , but most of them have been given upgrades over the years, this one has not been changed from original form.  Historical Gem. Great for all folk music and baroque period music. This no saddle built in saddle design  is Not ideal and it could benefit from having a proper lower nut/saddle put in place.but it works.  Interestingly this rustic design has not effected the top of the violin or caused any issues since the violin was built   , it works & is functional.  Has original 18th century style small short bass bar!!! This is one trait of many  that wasn't changed during it's transition set up to modern standards. It's Rare to see old examples that haven't been given a modern style bass bar! It Has Large  ornate sound holes,  close to the outside of the body are another typical scottish/British old feature this fiddle shows. Serious projection ! It is Fully lined and blocked, no purfling, not build over back construction. FF's  are akin to maggini pattern FF's-   but different. Lots of variations are common in early brit work. Measures slightly betwixt 7/8th and 4/4 full-size  Neck is noticeably short and straight& unlike modern fiddles. Master scottish/British   folk fiddle for serious collector, so   Please don't  lowball me Too hard I do know what i have although the exact maker is unknown- it's a lovely old 18th century fiddle& $200 is just offensive  😂  i  originally bought it because it looked darn nigh identical to an authentic ruddiman I used to own&sold + it sounds alike to the ruddiman as well early UK made traits with this one are unmistakable to those of us who know what to look for. Bought from a professional luthier's private collection of historic instruments and he also sussed it as early British mid to late 18th century- said luthier is who did the most recent repairs- I immediately recognized the scottish traits in this mean fiddle , as the former owner of a verified ruddiman. I am a long time player (32 years fiddling)  &serious collector (30 years collecting) &i have been dealing in repair &sales  of old violins for 24 years....  Experts & proper collectors& violin historians  agree this is a rare opportunity to own a piece of British isles music history  .Will  be shipped with the soundpost down, inside an old but usable decent hard case  free baroque style  new bow included if full price is paid. I suggest gut strings & a shorter bridge and remove the shim and give it a shorter fingerboard to return it to its original glory but it makes sweet music fit for a dancing master or johnnie  himself. 🎻