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I came across this picture of a ferrule included with an outfit on eBay. Curious as to what some of these stamps mean. I recognize the “925” silver stamp, the FXS shield and the Lyon insignia, but no idea of the other two. Seller lists it as a French trade bow... never seen so many stamps on a bow before. A bit gaudy if you ask me.

Hi all, Hoping for a bit of help/suggestions: A local is selling a cello bow, no name. I find the stick and head quite striking and beautiful. The frog is obviously pretty worn, and the crude screws in the underslide makes me think German. But do any of you want to venture a guess or help close in on what this might be? Sorry for the hyperlinks instead of photos - don't think I am allowed to post photos yet. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10157658259100245&set=a.10157658258130245.1073741827.844275244&type=3&theater https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10157658259100245&set=a.10157658258130245.1073741827.844275244&type=3&theater https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10157658258735245&set=a.10157658258130245.1073741827.844275244&type=3&theater https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10157658258610245&set=a.10157658258130245.1073741827.844275244&type=3&theater https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10157658258590245&set=a.10157658258130245.1073741827.844275244&type=3&theater Many thanks in advance! Thomas

Well, after a few years of growing rusty, I've picked up the violin once more and lately I've really started to think about the effect that my bow, rosin, and strings have. The violin I play is good quality -- German and probably late 1800s, stamped "GLASS" (Franz Johann likely). It has such a unique dark, booming voice with a very unusual color (the stain is nearly black it is so dark) and is such a delight to play. Unfortunately, I never really invested in quality rosin or strings, mostly for financial reasons, and the bow is just a cheap fiberglass bow. The strings are mismatched, with the only good one being the "G" string (Dominant) and the rosin I have is just the $2 cheapo stuff. Wanting to turn that around, I am going to be using a little bit of my tax return hopefully to buy some Andrea Solo rosin (hopefully it won't melt in the South Florida heat) and some quality, darker strings. Which just leaves the bow. I'm definitely not rolling in money by any stretch of the imagination, which means that a lot of the bows that I want are laughably beyond my means. But I really wanted to hold out for a real wood bow, and I was really hoping for a decent German bow from a similar time period as the violin. Most of those are out of my price range... but I did find one on ebay and broke down and bought it. It needs rehairing obviously, but otherwise I felt that it was a decent buy. I was wondering if you guys think I did okay buying this? This isn't to resell or anything like that -- I'm not looking for the next million-dollar bow, but I am looking for something that will play well and that appeals to me. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Beautiful-Old-Antique-4-4-violin-bow-Stamped-034-Grimm-034-/251853605018?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2047675.l2557&nma=true&si=VTIn2AuWpAc6%252FQfffmHruYJl2iQ%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc Here's the breakdown on the bow: It weighs 55 grams without hair (after looking it up, it sounds like it would end up around 60-61ish grams with hair), it is stamped "GRIMM" near the frog. Underneath the frog is another stamp, "GERMANY" and what looks to be a hand carved "V" symbol. The metal is all real German silver as far as I can tell, and the slider and eyes of the frog are just gorgeous - very iridescent (the pictures don't do it justice). From what I gather, the frog is ebony, the tip is ivory, and the bow is most likely made from pernambuco wood. The wrappings were a cheap, shoddy job (not original, "glued" on with jewelers wax and not even real metal), so I removed those and will be replacing them. The bow was very slightly warped to one side to my alarm (despite the listing description), but after some creative clamping and Floridian humidity, I have straightened it back out. (The listing didn't have any good pictures of the stamps, but if I can later today I'll take a few) Anyway, here are the pictures! Please let me know if you think I did all right. I haven't been able to play it yet since I'm waiting on my tax return to take it to be rehaired and rewrapped, but I get a good feeling from it. Listing Description: "Here is a beautiful old full size violin bow stamped "Grimm" that is in excellent condition only needing a rehairing and cleaning. I don't see any damage what so ever. It will probably need a cleaning but that is it. The bow weighs 55 g, has silver fittings (I think), and is straight."