In 2010, quite out of the blue, an I.T. manager was made redundant, let’s call him Alan! On the train and in shock, he pondered, what should I do now? He had always played the cello and loved working a little on instruments and bows in his spare time, maybe, he mused, I should become an instrument repairer. Friends in his local orchestra were a bit concerned about Alan, they liked him, he had been a member for a number of years. A colleague in the cellos decided to ask Alan if he could help with a computer glitch he had at home, Alan happily went round to help.

The glitch solved they shared a cup of coffee together, Alan told his friend of his plan to restore stringed instruments. As he was leaving his friend reached on top of a kitchen cabinet and said ‘I was about to throw these two bows away but you could practice on them!’ Alan thanked him even though there looked awful, totally caked in rosin, a cello and violin bow.

The next morning Alan sat at his bench, he began to methodically clean off the years of rosin of the violin bow, it took hours, but it was cathartic, he was content. After a few days it was totally clean and Alan began to think about putting hair in the bow, at that point he realised there was a stamp suggesting who had made the bow, he was no expert in bow makers but was glad to see he would have a name to look up. He could read P E C C AT T E hhhmmm, interesting name!

So this bow then travelled to a well known dealer in the uk, he sent it to Pierre Guillaume in Belgium, who was happy to report the stick, albeit damaged, was indeed by a certain Dominique Peccatte circa 1860. Then the bow made its way to Peter Hembrough bows. At this moment it is receiving restoration and having custom made replica fittings made to bring it back to near its former glory.

It will have binding near the head, about 16mms. But then it will also be very good value since an average price for one from this era undamaged is about £80/£100k!

It shall be one the website in about two months. I would like to thank Alan, and his friend Martin for all their kindness. Martin I have known for some years, I owe him a drink when we next meet in France searching for bows! For some bow dealers they are chasing riches, here at PHB we are genuine enthusiasts, THE most important thing here is that we are bringing back to use a top class Dominique Peccatte that was so nearly lost to the playing community.

See below the correct stamp and font for Dominique Peccatte, also the area near the head where the stick shall need binding. Disregard the fittings you can see, they are to be replaced by superb ones. The eventual binding shall be much less and thinner than you see in the photo below, but note the fabulous proud head, drop dead chamfers as well, although you cannot see them on here. Lucky, the eventual owner of this bow! Best wishes, Peter