August Rau German Workshop Sterling Silver Cello Bow circa 1920-1930

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Branded:

According to the oral tradition of the Nürnberger family, August Heinrich Rau (1866-1951) was trained between 1880 and 1884 in the Nürnberger family workshop. In the late 1880’s he received further training in Dresden from Wilhelm Knopf, and after that worked in the Weichold workshop. In 1890 he set up on his own in Markneukirchen. His bows, even his workshop bows, graphically show the influence of the Nürnberger and Weichold schools. In his early period August Rau delivered a large percentage of his bows unstamped to various shops such as R. Weichold, Zimmerman, and Hammig & Son in Dresden. Rau’s production of his own handmade sticks diminished after 1914, which aligns with when August’s son Charles was killed in action and his son Walter left the profession in 1920, both of whom worked with him. We have an excellent workshop sterling silver bow, pernambuco wood, round- section that is a fantastic strong, even-grain light brown color. The frog has a single mother-of-pearl eye and the slide is original showing the parallel-flamed, greenish/white goldfish mother-of-pearl that is typical of the shop. Also, in the 1920-30’s the buttons on these bows tended to be of the sold silver capsule. This could be a great bow, possibly for the older player looking for light weight and a stick that is strong.

Weight fully haired 73.0 grams