Fine Violin Bow made by Albert Otto Hoyer Stamped E. SARTORY A PARIS circa 1920-1930

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Albert Otto Hoyer (1889-1966)

This is a bow handmade by Albert Otto Hoyer in his Markneukirchen, Germany workshop. The bow is stamped E. Sartory A Paris, and I found this bow’s cousin in the book “The German Bow: A Study Exhibit of German Bow Making” by Bruce Babbitt and Yung Chin, published in 2019 by the Violin Society of America. The cousin to this bow is photographed on page 249. The bow has the original winding, with new thumb and lapping leather, original tip, gorgeous wood and color, original ebony frog with sterling mounts, and to top it all off it is in excellent condition.

Otto Hoyer came from a well-established Markneukirchen bow making family whose roots in bow making go back to Carl Wilhelm Hoyer (1772-1836). Albert Hoyer was the first family maker who stamped his bows on a regular basis. He learned his craft from his father Ernst August Hoyer. Otto Hoyer spent time according to his father working with E. Sartory in Paris from 1911-1913. In 1913 Otto Hoyer, who was known with the nickname “Pariser,” set up his own shop in Markneukirchen, Germany and worked there very successfully well into his old age.

The bow has a deeper camber in the in the neck area like that of Sartory, gorgeous head, all knife work, ebony frog with the original pearl and one-piece endscrew all in sterling silver mounts. The wood is better than choice, round in section and has a gorgeous amber/ orange/brown color. The stick is firm and what a player. We chose to keep the original silver thread winding and carefully replace the leathers which were totally torn up. This is an exquisite bow close to if not 100 years old in excellent condition. A WOW stick waiting for a serious player.

Weight fully haired 59.3 grams.