Eugen Meinel Violin Bow-Markneukirchen circa 1920-1930

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Growing up, my home was in the New York/New Jersey area. With close to eight million people in that area, and well before “Antiques Road Show,” my dad and I gathered quite a collection of instruments and bows, with no help from cell phones or computers. With less than a decade of collecting as a teenager with my dad (1976-1984), we purchased hundreds of violins and violas and over 800 decent bows, which at the time I didn’t realize. Sometimes we came away with 3 or 4 bows in one violin case. They were usually shabby looking, lacking luster, full of dirt with ravaged hair in a case. At the time the bows were always a second thought of what we collected in an instrument. This Meinel bow has just been completed, brought back to life after a hibernation of 45 years in a large cardboard box labelled German bows.

The Eugen Meinel brand was a trade name used by the Ernst Heinrich Roth shop of Markneukirchen Germany right after World War I. The Meinel name was used to avoid conflicts with the same type of bows exported to North America as well as in the homeland. There are no other markings on the bow. The Roth firm was one of the most prominent German firms in the early 20th century and was known for their instruments as well as their bows. At a time when German makers used French and Italian names to sell their instruments and bows the Roth firm operated with transparency in their business practices.

This is a very nice nickel mounted violin bow. The wood is an orange/amber/brown color – older pernambuco and the stick is round in section. We have replaced the winding and added a new leather thumb grip. The frog is Parisian eye, and the endscrew has the typical Eugen Meinel two-piece button. I meticulously went over the bow giving it a new tip, new winding, and a new thumb leather. The bow handles well, has good strength, and feels light in the hand but is right on gram weight wise. A 100-year-old German bow in very good condition.

Weight fully haired 60.2 grams