unknown (good) bow, stamp nearly worn away

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Thomas Erickson

Sue Lipkins was kind enough to take a look and offer her opinion - she says it appears to be a commercial German made bow of some sort. Oh well!

I still haven't had any luck on deciphering the stamp, so if anybody has a trick that might help I'd still be interested...

Commercial means they stamp what ever name they make up that day. You are looking for a Ghost! What Sue probably meant is that there is no such person with a name like that OR, if there is, it means very little. I would go with the Fictitious name and let it rest. So many sellers and shops over time have had names stamped into Bows for the sake of selling something that the other guy doesn't have. The next shop down the street has the exact same Bows with a different name in them.

Look at all the Chinese stuff sold today with German and Italian names. Some are names of real people and some not. Years ago I was at the VSA Violin convention here in Pa. and had lunch with a couple of dealers. One was bragging how well he did in his shop with Violin Bows. He would have a bunch made and put some name on them, real or imagined. Then, the next batch would have a different name on them. Today we have so much junk on the market that some people are hoping to find that maker in Germany or Italy somewhere. Too bad, because most of them weren't even born yet!