Let's see.
a) You don't play the violone. You might want to play the violone. Violones are generally useless for anything but period music. It's safe to say that if you started playing jazz on the violine you would immediately become the Jazz Violone King. (That would put you in the company of Yusef Lateef, the Jazz Bassoon King, and my friend Scott Reeves, the Jazz Alto-Flugelhorn King.)
b) You do play the double-bass. Like myself, you play on a perfectly fine, undistinguished instrument.
c) You could probably pull off a purchase in the $12k range but, like myself, it would be a substantial investment.
d) You're quite taken with this instrument.
Based on all that, my take is:
1) There is a reason that this instrument is so unusual. The Baroque/period boom of the 70s faded many years ago. The demand for violones in general and this instrument in particular is empirically low.
2) Accordingly, it's quite likely that you could bargain for a lower price than any price the dealer names at first. Similarly, the dealer might take a trade for a double bass (which presumably would not take forty years to move).
3) Having obtained what is doubtless a remarkable violone, you would be the owner of a remarkable violone. But if you don't want to play the violone you would need to either
a) ditch this instrument, which would probably require you either to take a loss, make a contribution or wait for some portion of forty years; or
b) convert it to a double bass.
So the question, from the business standpoint, is whether buying the instrument and converting to a double bass is a cost-effective means to acquire a double bass you would like to have.
4) Converting the instrument to a double bass requires, at a minimum, a new neck (with fingerboard), bridge, machines, tailpiece and probably a new end-pin. That's easily a few thousand dollars worth of work and parts done well. An important question is whether work on or replacement of the bass-bar is required; if so, it's a bunch more work with attendant cost.
In conclusion: if you want to buy a violine, try it and donate it to a university, bravo to you but it seems like a lot of money. If you want an instrument which might be potentially useful to you as a bass, ****ysis is in order.
Good luck and have fun.
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