Carl Fischer New York Sterling Silver Violin Bow – Germany Late 19th Century – A Lightweight Gem! – CURRENTLY OUT ON TRIAL –

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We have a sterling silver house violin bow made for and imported by Carl Fischer circa 1880-1900. Carl Fischer Music is only known these days as music publishing house and seller of sheet music. In 1872, Carl Fischer (1849-1923) opened a violin shop in the East Village neighborhood of New York City. He did various repairs and restorations on string instruments and bows. He sold affordable German instruments and a collection of pernambuco bows. Carl was a businessman and a fine violinist, playing in several New York City orchestras and bands. He also imported and sold an array of band instruments. Being a musician and serious violinist during the late 1800’s he was particularly aware of the lack of printed music available for the many odd sized orchestras, bands, and then later for the musician who wanted solos, etude studies, and lesson books. He began to generate an entire new line of income by writing professional arrangements of music. He began using pencil and pen writing his arrangements by hand and later adopted the lithographic process, officially entering him into the world of music publishing.

From the 1875 until 1914 the Carl Fischer violin shop flourished. The violin shop/Music House grew as an importer. By 1915 Carl’s health was holding him back and the violin work stopped. Our bow is one of those items with his name stamped on the bow. When Carl Fischer passed away the company changed hands and the old-world violin shop in the city no longer continued handling string instruments and bows. It did continue as a household name for music publishing and band & wind instruments.

This bow is pernambuco, octagonal in section, and mounted in sterling silver. The wood is old stuff, darker chocolate in color and stems from wood that would have been harvested in Brazil at the middle of the 19th century. The bow has fight and flexibility. The frog is ebony with single pearl eyes and a full heel. There is pin work on the one-piece heel of the frog and two small bronze screws mounting the lining. The frog is older ebony that has single mother-of-pearl eyes. I have replaced the old winding and leather with a new sterling silver winding and new leather lapping and thumb grip. The bow is in very good condition.

Weight fully haired 55.1 grams