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Double Bass So what do I have here?

KUNGfuSHERIFF

KUNGfuSHERIFF

Feb 8, 2002
10,677
6,684
50
Upstate NY
#1
Greetings, all.
Yesterday I picked up an older German or Czech gamba in need of some fairly serious work because of a dramatically failed existing repair. Nestled in the bow pocket of its' cover was the following. What is it, and is it worth anything significant?

utf-8BSU1HMDAyMTMtMjAxMTA5MTAtMTcwNS5qcGc.gif


utf-8BSU1HMDAyMTktMjAxMTA5MTAtMTcwNy5qcGc.gif


utf-8BSU1HMDAyMTgtMjAxMTA5MTAtMTcwNy5qcGc.gif


utf-8BSU1HMDAyMTctMjAxMTA5MTAtMTcwNi5qcGc.gif


utf-8BSU1HMDAyMTYtMjAxMTA5MTAtMTcwNS5qcGc.gif


utf-8BSU1HMDAyMTUtMjAxMTA5MTAtMTcwNS5qcGc.gif


utf-8BSU1HMDAyMTQtMjAxMTA5MTAtMTcwNS5qcGc.gif
 
#2
I'm not a bow expert but that is a younger sibling of the dragonetti bows, I found a pair of them the few months ago. I origonally thought they were period dragonetti bow, then someone pointed out that there is no chamber and with a true period bow, making them a later realative sometime in the 19th century. As for value, I have seen players who have a collection of 20 or 30 of them at isb. They're somewhat collectable and it wasn't to hard to get $200 for one but if you really went all out you might get about twice that in good playing condition, that seems to be about the "retail" for one in that condition. One of them even had that v marking on it, couldn't find any information regarding that.
 
#4
Contact Chris Brown (bow broker in Saint Paul). He's the guy with a collection of these from ISB. I think they are best called "transitional bows", i.e. transitional in the sense that they are bows in between the Dragonetti style bow of the early 1800's, which has an outward curve and is generally short, and the modern German bow as made by Pfretschner, Nurnberger etc in the late 1800's.

Some of them are worth something, some are not. My impression is that the ones that are valuable are usually in good shape and made well.... I think because of the popularity of the Dragonetti bow some famous (french bow) makers made transitional bows, and I'd imagine those are valuable.
 
#6
The plot thickens. I sent the above pictures to Chris Brown and, based strictly on my iffy photos, he theorized this bow is an original, early transitional model apparently crafted by "a pretty good maker." He added that he has seen similar bows in better condition, of more elegant design and made of exceptional wood fetch as much as $2,000.

He went into a good amount of interesting detail but I will refrain from further quoting his response out of respect for his courtesy and promptness, unless of course he graces me with a second reply and agrees to be quoted in his entirely.

The above is posted strictly for the benefit of future talkbass.com users who may stumble into a similarly excellent find...
 
#7
KUNGfuSHERIFF said:
The plot thickens. I sent the above pictures to Chris Brown and, based strictly on my iffy photos, he theorized this bow is an original, early transitional model apparently crafted by "a pretty good maker." He added that he has seen similar bows in better condition, of more elegant design and made of exceptional wood fetch as much as $2,000.

He went into a good amount of interesting detail but I will refrain from further quoting his response out of respect for his courtesy and promptness, unless of course he graces me with a second reply and agrees to be quoted in his entirely.

The above is posted strictly for the benefit of future talkbass.com users who may stumble into a similarly excellent find...
Click to expand...

How did you contact him? I can't seem to find any # or email to reach him.
Thanks, Parker Brown
 

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