Illegible Stamp Nickel Mounted Violin Bow Markneukirchen-Klingenthal circa 1900-1920

click picture to enlarge

Stamp:
Illegible

Bows from France get all the glory, but Markneukirchen has produced some of the nicest bows for over a 250-year span. As the violin trade grew in the Markneukirchen/Klingenthal area and the fame for their quality grew, so did the need for fine bows to be sold with instruments. The location, outstanding wood source, hard-working and talented immigrant craftsmen, and trade routes which brought raw products like ebony and pernambuco from other areas of the world helped launch this city into the instrument hub of Germany. This region was the sweet spot of many bow makers who started to branch off into their own workshops and concentrate just on bow making.

Don’t let “Illegible Stamp” scare you away from this violin bow. It is a gorgeous German bow and plays well. I’ve tried loupes, head set magnifiers, a microscope, and digital photography to try to determine the original stamp found on the player’s side above the frog. The bow is octagonal in section, tight grain pernambuco wood that is medium brown in color. The wood was probably harvested in Brazil in the late 1800’s, transported to Germany, and air dried for another 10-20 years at a shop before being selected for a bow. The head of the bow has a crisp vertical line up to the peak and appears well proportioned. The stick is semi firm, slightly thinner for the first 160.0 cm behind the head and then stays the same width through the end of the bow. The original winding was too far gone to save. We replaced the winding with a sterling silver winding and new leathers at the thumb and lapping to affect the balance and slightly increase the gram weight. The single eye ebony frog and endscrew are original to the bow. The mother-of-pearl slide has a very slight taper and the pearl shimmers in green/blue/pink hues. The three-piece endscrew is different, with a scallop carved into the silver after the single ring initial collar. Very good workmanship of a bygone era when young apprentices worked long days like a farmer, perfected their craft, and didn’t worry about the acknowledgment of making such gorgeous bows. The bow handles well and feels great in the hand. The stick is pernambuco and nickel mounted with the added sterling silver winding. This bow will soon find a new home in someone’s case.

Weight fully haired 60.0 grams