Hermann Prell Workshop Violin Bow – Markneukirchen circa 1910-1920

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We have an H. R. Prell workshop violin bow, pernambuco mounted in sterling silver. The bow has no stamp of the maker, yet the bow has the hallmarks of a stick made in his workshop from the turn of the century. The frog and its pearl slide are classic Prell, the blind eye frog, the head of the stick – how it stands upright, erect from the nose. The pearl slide is so different from other shops, check out the photos of the frog. The winding is not original – it is imitation whalebone and has helped the bow fall into a lower weight. The bow is in very good condition and ready for another player.

Hermann Wilhelm Prell (1875-1925) was a master bow maker and a pupil of H. Hoyer from 1890 to 1893. He learned bow making in Markneukirchen not only from Hoyer but also spent his journeyman’s years working for Albert Nurnberger– WOW! from 1893 to 1895 and August Rau- another WOW in 1896. The period from 1897 to 1898 was spent in Paris with E. Sartory, a triple WOW!!! Prell came back to set up his own shop in Markneukirchen in 1899.

This is another bow from my collection. I have had the stick since the late 1970’s. My dad would take me to auctions and estate sales of players my grandparents knew (they were professional musicians in the city), and we would purchase instruments and bows. I grew up in New Jersey just outside of New York City. Together from 1976-1984 we collected hundreds of instruments and even more bows that came with the instruments. Currently, I’m averaging two or three bows per month restored, completed, then photographed, and then attached to a write up for the website. I have completed over 900 sticks from the collection since 1990 and I still have close to 600 more bows to go. This Prell workshop bow is one of these sticks. The bow shows Prell traits he learned from Paris, the thinner stick behind the head, the slightly wider ferrule, the frog that flanges at the bottom- you can feel it- the fancy mother-of-pearl slide that is slightly wider at the ferrule end than at the heel. The full-length slide and the heel are both mother-of-pearl. The frog is classic blind eye look akin to his workshop, and the end button is three pieces with the middle section ebony at 3.8 mm. in width. The pernambuco wood is round in section with medium firm strength and deep brown/orange color. This is an excellent playing bow very much worth looking at.

Weight fully haired 60.1 grams