and proceed with the Martin bass..
Before you buy a new Martin Bass, come see me. Maybe that is the bass for you and maybe you have just not seen enough basses. People often just buy what they are exposed to. From about 1975 till a few years ago, I had not visited any shops at all and was totally unaware of what was available and the prices. When I started re-hunting for a bass when I went back into playing (only part time now), I was almost shocked at first at what the prices were.
There are so many new Basses out there and many of them just 'shop basses' where they have the shop or persons name in the bass but made in Romania, Hungary, Germany or even China. Shop basses were not as broadly made internationally 30-40 years ago. It is important a buyer knows exactly he/she is actually buying. Take out the name or label of a bass or at least mentally and look at the bass real carefully. Then play it and listen to it. Sometimes the name in the bass is more audible than the actual sound.
Shop carefully. Like buying a Car, it is very easy to buy one but not so easy to sell one. The Dealer always has the upper hand. If you but a classic instrument at a fair market price then you have something fairly original and not one of 10-20,000 units made. These have a more attractive demand in the industry then serial number 9,243 of who knows how many made.
My Martini which is an early 20th century Bass like yours is from a documented maker where it is recorded just how many of each instrument he made. There are 45 basses made by him on record and mine I know is the earliest known to date that I have been able to find. If I had some German, Czech, Chinese, Romanian factory Bass, the numbers would be in the 100's to 1,000's if not higher. Then, it's just a bass, size, shape, condition and sound. No pedigree, just wood with sound.
Get second and third opinions and ones that are not affiliated with the maker or brand. "Birds of a feather flock together". Find another flock!
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