Violin Bow Stamped August Prell- German circa 1920
$1,395.00
click picture to enlarge
Branded:
GERMANY on the butt end of the bow
We have a strong gold mounted pernambuco violin bow stamped August Prell. The bow is a stylization of a Tubbs bow. The frog and stick are beautiful and the educated thought on this bow is that it was a higher end workshop bow made for the Pfretzschner company, which also leads to Ernst Albin Riedl (1881-1946) of Markneukirchen. Riedl delivered unstamped fine bows to dealers such as G.A. Pfretzschner, who then stamped the bows with a variety of names. August Prell was a name placed on the bow to market the stick back in the 1920’s.
The stick is pernambuco, round in section, with a tinsel gold and silver winding to help with the balance and weight of the bow. The winding is finished off with a black goat leather thumb grip. The tip and frog are original to the stick. We replaced the winding and leathers. The frog has single mother-of-pearl small eyes, and the mother-of-pearl slide has a shimmering goldfish color of green, rose/gold, and a streak of purple. The adjuster was replaced or changed at some point in the bow’s life to a three-piece sterling silver adjuster. I left it as is because it fits perfectly, and I would never find the exact original gold endscrew. I sure wish all the fittings were gold. This is a great stick for someone just looking for performance and not worried about hybrid fittings. The bow is balanced and handles very well. The wood is old with a gorgeous dark chocolate color and helps set this bow apart from anything generic that would have been made for the trade. This is a 100-year-old gold level bow at a low price. New gold mounted pernambuco bows from Brazil start around 4K. The stick at first was grungy as all get out, and the fittings needed extensive cleaning and polishing. Boy, did they ever clean up. The fittings jump. A player looking for bows in the two thousand range should check out this stick. This quality of a bow is a sleeper and may make a big difference in your performance and sound.
Weight fully haired 62.0 grams.
