A virtually mint condition ‘special’ viola bow made, we think, by William Johnston in the Hill workshop around 1920. Hill bows in general are a by-word for consistent high quality, but the makers from this early period, under the watchful eye of Retford, were in a league of their own!

The Hill workshop produced silver mounted pernambuco bows as standard but occasionally, when a particularly nice piece of wood came along, ‘special’ bows would be produced and these could be gold mounted or have tortoiseshell or ivory frogs and/or elaborate decorations.

This viola bow has a silver mounted tortoiseshell frog which runs on rails on the stick; it is decorated with silver fleur-de-lys inlays; the three piece adjuster of silver/tortoiseshell/silver, capped with a pearl eye.

W.E.Hill & Sons, founded in 1880 in London, became the preeminent dealership in the U.K., employing a stable of the finest European craftsmen, producing instruments and bows of the  highest quality over many years; they were also highly respected experts on a global scale with unparalleled knowledge of the early Italian masters.

W.E. Hill & Sons English Viola Bow, c.1920

Reference: VAB.130