Beautiful Old German 3/4 Size Violin Bow circa 1930-1940 Wow!

click picture to enlarge

We have a fractional size bow that is handmade and made sometime before World War II. I had this stick in my collection of bows to work on since the late 1970’s. I grew up in the New York City/New Jersey area and acquired hundreds of instruments and even more than that number in bows. This stick has been sitting around not completed for close to 45 years. The stick is lovely, semi-firm pernambuco with a half-lined ebony frog. The bow is mounted in nickel silver in the tip, ferrule, lining, and button. The button is three-piece silver/ebony/silver and finished on the end with a mother-of-pearl eye. The frog has single eyes. The tip has a nickel silver facial, very neat to see. To keep the weight down I did leathers for the winding and the thumb. Many players like the feel of an encompassing leather grip for the winding. I’ve done this type of grip on many older fine bows and when players have asked for it. This will be an excellent stick for the young violin player looking to get a rounder sound off the instrument and a truer feel and different tone off the strings.

Pernambuco bows in the completed bow drawers we call the oil paintings. Bows that are carbon fiber we call nice prints. This handmade oil painting is pushing 90 years. Will this bow hold up with a youngster? You bet! It is strong and will last anther century even with a little wear from a 9 year old. The bow has some historical significance in the there are no markings of origin nor a maker’s name. The bow could possibly be a little older than what I list it as, but I’m sticking to my dates above. The pernambuco color is close to a chocolate and the head is cut in older German style with a larger back to the head. This little German gem plays well and is so easy to handle.

Weight fully haired 52.4 grams