Repaired – W E Hill & Sons Violin Bow England circa 1910

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Stamped:

The London based firm W.E. Hill & Sons dominated the fine instrument and bow market in the lates 19th and early 20th centuries. The name Hill became synonymous for high quality and expertise in the bow and string instrument business. The firm was founded in 1880 by William Ebsworth Hill, who established its reputation for fine restoration work. He trained his four sons to continue the work, which they did following his death in 1895. The Hill workshop also employed many fine makers to make instruments and their cases, but their specialty was the bow. Alfred Hill initiated and established a style of the firm’s bows based on the Tourte violin bow and Voirin cello bow. His hybrid of ideas of what his bows for the firm should be brought together the finest British makers to create a unique and distinctively British bow. These makers were highly individualistic and came from all backgrounds. It was Alfred Hill who insisted on his concepts and his conceptual idea of the bow and his insistence for excellence that made it all work.

Our bow was made at the turn of the 20th century in the Hill workshop. It is a dark chocolate pernambuco bow, gorgeous tight grain, round in section, and is sterling silver mounted. I don’t have an exact maker from the shop; that is, William and later his son Alfred Hill had only the best men he could find to come work for them. Sometimes they found his bow makers as cabinet makers, artisans, or trained in France, and/or somewhere on the British island. They were all men that had a teachable spirit and conformed to the style William and Alfred Hill would only allow to be produced. I have meticulously gone over this fine bow, giving it a new tip facial and capturing the butt end with a sterling ring that is pinned. I stand behind the restoration/repair 100%. The lining has the letter L stamped in the silver and the end button is solid silver with a mother-of-pearl eye at the end of the cap. The frog does have some wear on the player’s side back corner, which I decided to leave as it does not affect the playing. This bow is a part of history as well as an excellent violin bow at a reasonable price.

Weight fully haired 60.0 grams