Emile Auguste Ouchard is one of the most important makers of the twentieth century, a precocious talent he was a tremendously gifted maker.

He soon garnered a notebook for of orders from the most important players of the day. He was keen to use the best possible pernambuco and took his ingenious model to its furthest point to produce exceptional bows.

At his best he is nearly unbeatable, when confronted by one of his best bows the feeling is nearly unanimously ‘I love this bow!’.

He was always in demand and spent several years in the U.S.A. working for William Lewis and Son, Chicago (Established 1874 has since become a division of Conn-Selmer, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Steinway Musical Instruments.). However, every September he would travel to Paris to sell some of his bows to colleagues in the making profession for them to sell on under their banner.

Left is a photo of Emile Auguste as a young drummer, perhaps at this age he would glance over at his father, by this time occasionally wearing three pairs of spectacles at once (!) and think to himself ‘I think I can make a bit better than my father!

This bow was bought in such a way by the Laberte firm, founded in 1780 it was well known in Paris to all in the dealing world and run by Marc Laberte at this time.