The authenticity

of my instruments is guaranteed by the lable found inside the instrument and by the Certificate of Authenticity, the latter being a document including colored photos, description and measurements of the instrument.
Experience has tought us to guarantee the authenticity from the birth of an instrument. Today the violin market wuold be much more transparent and "just" if the old Maestros had thought of assigning a certification to each instrument...
The certification is made to stay with the instrument for its entire existance!

For a more simple identification of the instruments hand-made by me I show in the table below the facsimile of the lables I use now and have used in the past.
Obviously my lable was different when I worked in Cremona from the one I use now. The lables I use now have the outline of the "Gran Sasso", a mountain chain here in central Italy, with a star in the sky on the background. This is an image that I can see from the window of my workshop. For the location I write "Hatria" which is the old (latin) name for "Atri", the town which is the municipality of the small village of Casoli where I live and work.

The lable I used in Cremona (until 2000).
Text: "Felix Habel, Cremona" (year written by hand) followed by an abstract symbol.

I used this lable in the year 2000. I found it funny (some may not) to write the year with notes on a pentagram because the "solfeggio" of the notes do-mi-la (corrisp. c-e-a) is phonetically very similar to "duemila" (year 2000).
Text: Felix Habel fecit in Hatria nell'anno" followed by a pentagram with the notes c-e-a.

Cello lable.
Text: Felix Habel in Hatria nell'anno" (year written by hand).

This is the standard lable for violins and violas that I have used since 2001.
Text: "Felix Habel fecit in Hatria nell'anno 20" (last two digits written by hand).

--Attention-- While the previous lables regard instruments made entirely by me, this one is used in my workshop for basic student instruments of different fabbrication.

As real proof of authenticity my instruments are accompanied by a certificate that provides an unequivocal description of the instrument including the measurements and three colored photos of front, back and scroll. On the foolowing link you will find a facsimile in .pdf of the certificate.

Please note: the reproduction of the certificate is not binding and may be subject to minor changes with respect to this version.

- Certificato di Autenticità (facsimile).pdf (3Mb)