Viola Bow Stamped TOURTE- Markneukirchen, Germany circa 1930-1940

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Stamped:

This is a very good viola bow, perfect for the player looking for something different with no real maker name stamped. Tourte was a famous Parisian maker and violin shop owner of the 19th century. This bow was made in a workshop in or around the town of Markneukirchen, Germany. Historically, Markneukirchen was the German hub of the string trade for centuries. Because of the tremendous growth in violin making during the 1800’s the bow trade followed and became just as well known. In this period many bow making families flourished, employing dozens of craftsmen to meet the need for bows. This is one of those bows from a family shop, but from the early 20th century. This is another bow from my collection of over 40 years, living and growing up in the New York/New Jersey Metropolitan area. As a teenager my father would take me to many estate sales, and auctions. We would purchase dozens of old violins/violas/cellos and their bows. Sometimes bunches of old bows all tied up for sale. I’m averaging one bow per week getting restored.

The bow is pernambuco, octagonal in section, and nickel mounted. The bow is branded “TOURTE” on the player’s side of the bow and “GERMANY” on the butt of the bow. We have gone over the entire bow, giving it a new tip facial in bone and replaced the leather at the winding. The pernambuco is octagonal in section and dense in it make up. It’s old wood with a yellow fleck throughout the grain of the wood. I have seen this wood in bows from the Pfretzschner and Seifert workshops shops. The bow is firm, dense wood allowing for a thinner overall width of the stick. The frog is a Parisian eye model with a solid cap end button. The frog is in the Markneukirchen style of the early 1900’s with pins in the two-piece heel and the nickel silver lining is held to the frog with bronze screws. The frog is not the traditional rounded frog made for most viola bows. My guess is the stick did not need the extra weight of the slightly larger rounded frog. The mother-of-pearl slide has beautiful color pearl, and the eyes of the frog are small 3.0 mm white abalone dots with no color. It is a well thought out stick, made by no beginner, and will make a great addition to a violist’s arsenal of bows.

Weight fully haired 72.8 grams