Prosper Colas Violin Bow, Paris circa 1890

This is a very fine and quite rare gold mounted violin bow by Prosper Colas – it’s in mint condition and it produces a big and beautiful sound.

As with Charles Nicolas Bazin, Prosper Colas has never really achieved the status he deserves. Perhaps this is because both makers served their public by providing a wide range of bows to suit all budgets, and many of the bows that we see are inexpensive student models. However, both makers were capable of the highest quality of work, and their best bows are in every way equal to the work of their more lauded contemporaries.

Prosper Colas’ own origins are a bit vague, but it seems certain that he worked in the Vuillaume shop before striking out as an independent maker quite early in his career. He was obviously industrious and organized, and he produced a large number of bows and employed several assistants.

Gold mounted bows by Prosper Colas are very rare – there isn’t even one example amongst the 14 Prosper Colas bows in “L’Archet”.

This bow has a stick of round section orange-red veined pernambuco with a random figure. Mounts are gold and ebony.

The condition is near mint.

This is a very positive bow with a big sound, great attack and an easy disposition. The tone is clean and projecting, but with just enough colour to inspire… in fact it has the qualities one looks for in a Sartory – warmth, stability, power and a bit of sparkle!

It’s an outstanding and supremely collectable example of this intriguing maker’s work.