The couple of Franz Heberlein violins offered for sale are in the $350 - $450 price range, and are represented as "good student violins."

A possible "family tradition of luthiery might be indicated by the appearance, as an example, at the Wichita Band Instrument Shop of:

R-24VN. Saxon violin from the workshop of Heberlein and Haeusler, bearing the label "Heinrich E. Heberlein, Jr. / Markneukirchen 1923 / copie Antonius Stradivarius / made in Germany". The one-piece back is of narrow figure, the top of spruce of narrow grain. The spirit-based varnish is a dark red color. Length of back is 357 mm. The instrument has come to us in good original condition, some wear to the varnish, but no cracks or damage. $1975.

I'd suspect the Heinrich would be called an "advanced student" violin, although this shop is not known for bargain pricing. You might want to add "Haeusler" as a search item to see if you can dig up some business history on Heberlein family members.

There seem to be more Heinrich Heberlein violins offered for sale than for Franz. Dates given are vague, but Heinrich (1893 to 1920s?) appears to have been some years (perhaps a couple of decades?) later than Franz, so there might be a father-son relationship(?).

Dictionary of Violin and Bow Makers lists:

"Heberlein, Heinrich jun. Clever maker in Markneukirchen, nineteenth century"

but does not show any others of that family. Franz, August Franz, Julian, and Heinrich all appear as "family names" for "Heberlein" family makers. (There may possibly have been more than one Heinrich, as some places seem to distinguish between Heinrich Th(eodore) and Heinrich Jr..)

Cello Playing in 19th Century Germany reports:

"A second pupil of Hegar's is HERMANN HEBERLEIN, who also had the advantage of Carl Schroeder's and. Bernhard Cossmann's instruction. Born on March 29, 1859, at Marckneukirchen, in the kingdom of Saxony, Heberlein went, from 1878-1877, to the Leipsic Conservatoire. In the last years of that period he gave concerts in South Germany, and finally was appointed to be solo cellist at the town theatre of Konigsberg. In 1883 he undertook the office of teacher of his instrument at the music school there. He wrote "Elementary Studies" for the Violoncello, "Practical Cello Studies" (2 books, Op. 5), Variations for the Violoncello, with piano accompaniment (Op. 2), Two Cello Pieces (Op. 8), four Pieces de Salon (Op. 6), and also published a Violoncello school."

Note that most of the H. Heberlein violins advertised are dated in the 1920s, so this cellist was much earlier, and could have been a grandfather of the luthier Heinrich (or of his brother?/father? Franz?)

Internet Cello Society lists at 2003-09-08 23:26:00: 1869 Heberlein Cello - United States, 1869 Heberlein of Markneukirchen. No first name or other identification given, but it does remind that when looking for old luthiers having one of a maker's fiddles doesn't mean that fiddles are what that luthier is best known for.

It would be interesting to know if the Gerhart Karl Friedrich Heberlein referred to in the Double-Reed Journal as an owner of Adler & Co, the bassoon manufacturer in East Germany, from 1937 to 1945 was a relative of the fiddle maker(s). This source does give some history of music manufacture in the Markneukirchen area, from the 1600s on (see around page 12 and after), although it deals mostly with wind instruments.

Although it gives only a passing reference to Heberlein, this article actually has quite a lot of history of music instrument manufacture in the region, and would merit a look from anyone curious about how the guild system (esp. at the turn or the last century) actually worked.

Unfortunately there have been far too many violin makers for any but the most prominent to be easily identified. Searching for old luthiers is a lot like searching one's own genealogy. You find lots of "possibles" but they're mostly someone else's ancestors.

John