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Scan 248
Old Violins And Their Makers, 1883
4 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 234. See the scan on archive.org.
1much coveted now, and command very high prices. He himself charged for this class of bow a sum equal to 11 guineas. The same bows, mounted in silver and ebony, he sold for about £3 10s.; and his ordinary ones, without any ornament, for about 30s. Their value at present is very much enhanced; sometimes, when they are in perfect condition, the original value of the common ones is nearly octupled. Fortunately for the amateur, the bows of other very good makers act as a check upon such absurd prices. It was François Tourte who invented the ferrule at the head for keeping the hair always flat, and placed the thin plate of mother of pearl on the nut for the same purpose. Fraud has been as busy with the name of Tourte as it has been with those of the great violin makers, and amateurs will be well advised to refrain from such an expensive luxury as a Tourte bow, unless they thoroughly know what they are about.
3Many clever bow makers of the same period took Tourte for their model, and they succeeded so well that the best connoisseurs are often deceived. I transcribe, for the benefit of those who may wish to make such a venture, the following words from Vidal: "The only certain indications to be depended upon as evidences of a genuine Tourte bow are the perfection of the contour, the arching and the extreme cleverness of hand which gave to the heads of his bows that cachet so difficult to imitate even by the best workmen." This is not much, but it really is all that can be said, for the age of the wood is nothing to go by, the closest imitations having been fabricated at precisely the same time. A fine violin bow by Tourte, without any ornament, will
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