> > once in a white elephant room.  Bought it and redonated it 
elsewhere; 
> > I purchased it for the 14k gold strips sitting inside it.  Every 
so 
> > often odd bits crawl out of basements or fall out of attics.  I 
keep 
> > my eyes peeled for hallmarked violin bows too. 
> 
> Bows make sense, because they're easier to lose track of
> than violins. I've had at least one stolen out of my case.
> I suspected someone, but there was no proof, and the kid
> probably needed the money more than I needed the bow.
> 
I suspect a bow would be fairly easy to sell; they're not as 
traceable. 

> A word to the wise, though - some very fine bows aren't
> signed. Same with violins, from which another interesting

Silver hallmarks however are a good sign it's a good bow. If there 
are British maker's marks they'll only pertain to the silver and not 
the rest of the bow.  A lot of good jewelry isn't marked either; you 
have to know what you're looking at.

> sidelight. There are very good violins out there that have
> had their labels removed and glued into lesser instruments,
> because at one point perceived genuineness of label was 
> considered a strong implicator of genuineness of fiddle.
> The original would be somewhat devalued, but its identity
> might have at the time been verifiable by other means -
> certificate, reputation, or whatnot, or else the perpetrator
> just wanted to keep the original in the family, so resale
> value wouldn't be so important. It would have been sort of
> like a situation where someone whose ancestry was known
> didn't really need a birth certificate, and that document
> could be used by someone else. Cloning John Doe, as it were.
>  
I've heard of that being done by guys trying to get into the Armed 
Forces in earlier wars.  Said kids were underage, generally.  It's an 
old fiddle, as the saying goes. 

> > actually used in the countries printed on them. I've been known 
to 
> > use the other kind for decoupage; it's about all they're worth.
> 
> Well, a limited edition of a hundred thousand, what's the 
> point? But as long as the population increases, those silly 
> Hummels and Swarovskis will still be worth something to
> somebody.

Not much! (LOL)  You can still sell Hummels, but they're going for 
what the Japanese copies used to sell for.  Now you can't give the 
copies away. 
 
> > > > Horrors!  Girl germs on the violin!  
> > > Worse, girl germs in the design.
> > Ack!  Call the doctor!  Call the exterminator!  Girl germs!
> 
> There was this backlash in the liberal '60s, which didn't
> last long. This went through many professions. High Fidelity
> ran an article on women composers, some of whom cited, such as
> Fanny Mendelssohn, were first-rate, and others, such as Anne
> Danican Philidor, were utter mediocrities. It turned out that 
> that particular Anne was a guy anyway, some names being more 
> unisex back in those days.

There were guys named Marion (the guy form of Mary) and Shelby and 
Leslie back in the day.  They should have gone for Elizabeth 
Armstrong, Louie's first wife; she was a heckuva jazz composer and 
arranger. 
 
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