L. Bausch – Beautiful Older German Violin Bow , Leipzig c. 1900

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This is a fine violin bow out of Leipzig, Germany and the workshop of
Ludwig Bausch & Sohn. Ludwig Bausch moved his workshop to Leipzig
in 1839. After 1874 Adorf W. E. Paulus, a longtime employee, took over
the running of the shop until 1899. His son, who had the same name managed
the shop until 1908. Bows with the “L. Bausch Leipzig” stamp would have
still been sold while the shop was under the management of the
Paulus family. This is one of those bows. These Bausch model bows
were made in both quantity and in various qualities which were
then sold as ”Bausch” models to different dealers in Germany
and then to North America. A “L. Bausch Leipzig” gold mounted
violin bow sold for 21 K in February 2025 in the Chicago
Instrument Auction. Yes, these bows are nice, a testimony to
the family’s attention to detail, quality workmanship,
playability and the fact that they just specialized in bows
for almost a century and a half. For 35 years “L. BAUSCH”
named and modeled bows were also supplied by the famous Knopf
shop, Heinrich Knopf (Berlin) unstamped, and then were
stamped at the Bausch workshop as Bausch model bows.

Our bow is a nickel mounted and stamped L. BAUSCH. The bow is of
pernambuco specie, round in section and nickel mounted. I
have replaced the winding and leather, everything else on the bow
is original. I used my formula for cleaning the stick 90 proof alcohol,
simple green and turpentine solution to treat and clean the stick which was
black, full of dirt and grime when first started. The round section
wood under the dirt is in perfect condition, tight grain old growth
pernambuco. The wood shows a beautiful darker orange brown color.
The bow maker determines the sticks section while working with the wood.
The bow is semi firm with a little bit of flex. The frog is fully lined,
the heel is of one-piece and the metal lining is attached to the ebony with
silver pins – not screws. The bow has a traditional ebony
frog containing single mother of pearl eyes and a slightly flanged
mother of pearl slide. The endscew finished the frog in three pieces with
a pearl eye on the end. The bow is all handmade and feels lite in the
hand when playing. This is an excellent 125 year old bow ready
for a serious player. It is a neat stick, handles well, older than me!-
and I just love the bow.

Weight of the bow fully hair 61.2 grams