Zimmermann stamped violin bow silver/tortoiseshell

[JH47]

Hi, 

Any opinion about the maker of this bow? I wonder if it’s related to Julius Heinrich Zimmermann and someone made it to him.

[Blank face]

I would think that the frog and adjuster are later, due to the bad fit, and the stick is somehow by/school of Wilhelm Knopf.

[JH47]

1 hour ago, Blank face said:

I would think that the frog and adjuster ar later, due to the bad fit, and the stick is somehow by/school of Wilhelm Knopf.

Thanks! I think the frog fits quite well and could be original. Knopf yes possibly. 

[Blank face]

35 minutes ago, JH47 said:

Thanks! I think the frog fits quite well and could be original. Knopf yes possibly. 

Here the fit looks better than at the first photo, though still not as perfect as I would expect from a good Knopf school now. Also the adjuster button seems to be thinner than the stick. It might depend on the period one might assume that it was made, the small pearl eye with thick ring would point to a date after ca. 1900/1910.

[Guido]

Gruenke notes "JUL.HEINR.ZIMMERMANN" branded bows to have been supplied by a wide range of vogtland workshops of the time and in a wide range of qualities.

The brand on your bow looks different. Even if it relates to the above, there is not much to be learned from it.

The fit looks ok to me. The adjuster has a lot of wear. Not sure.

[JH47]

Thanks for your comments!

[Blank face]

I agree that the brand isn't related to the J. Zimmermann firm, but might be an owner's or dealer's name. OTOH there were around 1900 a lot of firms ordering bows according to their particular models, f.e. Paulus (former Weichold), Lowendall and others. So this could have been resulted in such a bow where stylistic features and used materials like Tortoise (maybe inspired by Hill bows) doesn't match very well.

Due to this it would be difficult or impossible to ascribe such specimens to a particular maker, though it's often tried, using names like Karl August Knopf or similars, whose body of work is rather unknown, but have a promising family name.

[GennadyF.]

I've had some very nice bows branded J.H. Zimmermann. Yes, indeed there were a number of bow makers supplying bows to Zimmermann. Among them was Friedrich August Herrmann, nephew of Heinrich Knopf, who made bows for him.  August Moritz Knopf, who after moving to Russia, worked for Zimmermann in Moscow, where he died of tuberculosis in 1899.

The stick of your bow, could be from the Knopf workshop. 

Enclosed is a photo of the Herrmann bow for Zimmermann which I used to own.

[Blank face]

Thanks for showing that nice bow. In my eyes both frog and head shapes look very different from the OP, and might be about 20 or 30 years later, what do you think?

[GennadyF.]

20 hours ago, Blank face said:

Thanks for showing that nice bow. In my eyes both frog and head shapes look very different from the OP, and might be about 20 or 30 years later, what do you think?

can you be more specific as to which bows you are discussing? My Herrmann bow, according to Schmidt, is c. 1920.

[Blank face]

33 minutes ago, GennadyF. said:

can you be more specific as to which bows you are discussing?

To the original posted bow. It looks in my eyes to be made a bit earlier than 1900, so my guess was seems to be in agreement with Schmidt. Though it's stamp is not necessary by the Julius Schmidt firm, like it was discussed. Zimmermann is a very common name in Germany.

[GennadyF.]

On 2/2/2025 at 2:39 AM, JH47 said:

Thanks for your comments!

can you post a close up of the brand of your bow? Is it branded Julius Schmidt?

[fiddlecollector]

OP bow is an interesting bow ,it  reminds me of this unidentified unbranded bow i own.

[JH47]

On 3/7/2025 at 12:00 AM, GennadyF. said:

can you post a close up of the brand of your bow? Is it branded Julius Schmidt?

I don’t have the bow in my hands anymore but it was stamped just ”Zimmermann”. 

[GennadyF.]

Mine was branded "ZIMMERMANN LEIPZIG"

[uguntde]

On 3/6/2025 at 12:32 AM, GennadyF. said:

I've had some very nice bows branded J.H. Zimmermann. Yes, indeed there were a number of bow makers supplying bows to Zimmermann. Among them was Friedrich August Herrmann, nephew of Heinrich Knopf, who made bows for him.  August Moritz Knopf, who after moving to Russia, worked for Zimmermann in Moscow, where he died of tuberculosis in 1899.

The stick of your bow, could be from the Knopf workshop. 

Enclosed is a photo of the Herrmann bow for Zimmermann which I used to own.

Where did you find evidence that AM Knopf died in Russia?

[GennadyF.]

In the archives. Check out my STRAD article June 2021 on the Knopf Dynasty.