Tu felix Austria!
 
How lucky we are that in Austria, things are sometimes “preserved” that would perhaps end up in the trash in other places. OK, the filling under a wood floor is maybe not the most appropriate storage for a bow stick from before 1725. Nonetheless, this form of “conservation” was verifiably used between 1683 and 1725 at the Church of St. Martin in Klosterneuburg near Vienna. This not only gives us a fairly exact estimate of when the bow was made, but also provides a clear sense of who would have used it and what it was worth at that time, especially compared to bows of so-called “Indian” wood that were unaffordable for poorer musicians.
 
This violin bow is a copy of the original from Klosterneuburg and is distinguished from a “typical” snakewood baroque bow primarily through its material, which makes it a comparatively light bow. This lightness feels quite different in the hand of the player and demands a technique that comes “more from arm weight”. The bow draws a wonderfully direct sound and has an amazing clarity.