The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #83268 Message #1533183
Posted By: JohnInKansas
02-Aug-05 - 02:56 AM
Thread Name: Help identifying old fiddle: Moug(d)fot
Subject: RE: Help identifying old fiddle: Moug(d)fot
Pauline L -
Some of the fairly ordinary violins of the pre-1920 era often were accompanied by fairly decent bows. Before the advent of the "fishing rod" kind, they were still hand made from wood, often from good pernambuco. At the time the "name makers" of bows still commanded the high prices, and without the name many good bows from other makers sold pretty cheaply and got tossed in the case with mass market fiddles. A child would likely use the bow that came with the fiddle.
As the famous name bows got priced out of reach of ordinary musicians, some - certainly not all - of these bows have appreciated significantly. The valuation now for bows in this class would be pretty much based on how good a bow it is, since in most cases it's impossible to associate the name of a maker to an individual one. It's unlikely you'll find a $400,000 Tourte bow in your box; but you might easily find a very decent one, worth as much as the fiddle it came with.
My ex-wife had a pretty nice fiddle, brought from Germany by her grandfather (1880s?). When she took the fiddle in for a tuneup (while she was still in High School), the informal evaluation of the fiddle was $300 - $400, but the repair guy offered her $450 for the bow, and apparently he really wanted it since he called back a couple of times to offer "swaps." This was far too many years ago, but I'd guess that "$300 - $400 then" for the fiddle would be in the $900 - $1200 range now, from what I've seen of comparable instruments more recently.
While spectacular finds are rare, a "stock" bow from this era has about as much chance of being moderately valuable as does the fiddle. In addition to the case cited, I've known a handful of other fiddlers who've been offered more for the bow than for the fiddle. Nothing spectacular, but respectable offers. To the extent that "identifying" an old fiddle means setting an approximate value, the value of the bow should be checked out. If it's worth little, you should know that too.
And except in the most extreme cases, a bow that's been "bent" can be "re-bent" by a competent luthier. Some of the very expensive ones - fancy enough to have their own personal names - are reported to require a fair bit of straightening whenever new hair is mounted.
John