Non-Stamped Sterling Pernambuco Violin Bow – Markneukirchen/Saxony circa 1920

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Germany produced many instrument and bow makers from immigrant families who came from the outer rim region of the Czech Republic bordering Germany. They were known as the German speaking people of Bohemia. They came and crossed into the Saxony region of Germany to escape religious persecution, economic hardships, and the many wars that happened. They started coming into Germany as early as the 11th century, into the northern region called Saxony, in and around and just north of the town of Markneukirchen. These families brought with them their culture along with fine woodworking skills. They were meticulous in their woodworking, and they saw the economic advantage of putting their skills to use into the growing need for musical instruments during the 18th and 19th centuries. The Bohemian immigrants also made lutes, the famous cuckoo clocks, recorders, harmonicas, accordions, and other folk instruments. They became fully aware that the string instrument world was calling for more instruments and higher quality bows. In the mid 1800’s guilds were formed to help raise quality and provide standards. Families devoted themselves to the making of either the instrument or the bows for those instruments. Many of the bows made in family workshops had no name placed on the bow and or country of origin. This is one of those bows. The makers simply made bows for other local instrument shops to be placed with a violin outfit. This was not an uncommon practice in the late 1800’s and in the early 20th century.

This non-stamped bow is beautiful. The stick and frog are in very good condition. The bow is round in section and made from the sought after pernambuco wood. The maker chose the wood and decided the quality of pernambuco deserved to be mounted with a sterling frog. The pernambuco is orange/brown in color and beautiful old wood. Pernambuco only grows in the country of Brazil. Just the wood alone would have been great to document on how it got to the Markneukirchen area of Germany. Think about the ebony frog in this bow too. That wood only grows in Africa and certain parts of India. My mind goes to these thoughts as I work on the bows. Remember a bow maker must be into leather work, wood working, a fantastic jeweler working in silver, nickel, or gold, and a hairdresser. They must fit approximately 150 horse hairs with the weaker hair (hair from the far end of the tail placed in the tip of the bow, the stronger and thicker hair from the tail bone of the horse goes in the frog end, so the player can really dig into their strings when the music calls for it). This 74.0 centimeters of horse hair in a full-size violin bow is only held together by tying two fine knots and carving small wedges. There are three wedges cut in a hardwood with 4-5 angles on each wedge to hold the hair in place. Bow making and restoration is a very detailed art and not for the person who has little patience. Yes, a bow of this age is worth restoring and bringing back to life to get it to play again.

The camber starts quickly after the head and then remains gradual until the middle of the bow where it starts to return. The head of the bow is strong and stands pretty much straight up from the opening nose. I have meticulously gone over the bow and gave it a new facial in tip armor and a new silver winding with leathers. I removed and restored the old winding because the leather and the silver were in terrible condition. The winding was redone in sterling wire to bring the gram weight of the bow up to 60.0 grams. The frog was in great condition, no work to restore was really needed. The mother-of-pearl color is a WOW! Blue, green hues in both the slide and the pearl eyes in the frog. The slide is full length to the heel. The heel is one piece to the slide and is held in place with fine pin work. The lining on the frog is held in place with two very small bronze screws. The ferule is slightly rounded in its front across its width, and the top of the ferrule protrudes out a few thousands of an inch than the base of the ferrule. Subtleties, I notice that are testimonies to fine work from a skilled maker. Another Wow! The frog is a Parisian eye model, mounted in ebony. The frog has nice playing wear, smooth, and feels great in the hand, normal for a 100 plus year old bow. The button is a solid silver cap and has excellent lathe work on the double turn of the collar. The bow is in very good condition and ready to get matched to another violin.

Weight fully haired 60.0 grams