This thread is SO COOL!  💖Love the carvings of the frog and scroll (ref to feeding the soul?).  The idea of a peep hole is just too much (ROFL) - like something I'd find hidden in my Grandmother's attic!

You've piqued my curiosity again, Irv - I was wondering if the ability to transfer or mute vibration was important when choosing a material for the frog?  

I found a nice scientific paper on the bow - great info, but it didn't really give me an answer.  Every inch of a bow seems to be made with the purpose of helping to produce sound, so I find it hard to believe that frog material is inconsequential - or maybe just the need for it (frog) to transfer vibration is?

For people who don't know what a bow does - http://newt.phys.unsw.edu.au/j...../Bows.html

- Emily

@Irv - 

What have you been up to? 

Found some beautiful antique bows - some have frogs made of Tortoise shell, but a few of these bows are ornate beyond the frog and screw! 

Bow stamped Albert Nürnberger - ostrich leg skin on pad, the metal is Rose Gold and the frog is Tortoise shell - c.1800's. 

The Tarisio auction house had some bows from the collection of Walter Hamma.  Bows from some of the makers have sold for extremely high prices. 

The violin maker Walter Hamma was one of Germany’s great 20th-century violin experts and was also a collector of fine instruments and bows. His collection included an exceptional assortment of contemporary decorated bows mounted in tortoiseshell or ivory. 

Here's a link to more. 

Walter Hamma Bow Collection - Tarisio

Here's an ornate Charles Nicolas Bazin bow. 

I LOVE THIS ONE - by Simon fils de Jean, c.1870! 

French Bow with ivory from the Vuillaume school - c.1800's.

(think I posted this elsewhere)

Here's a bow by Pierre Sirjean - c.1820. 

It has an unusually large eye of shell on the frog and gold fittings. 

A French bow with ivory frog and nickel fittings. 

Another example of an old French bow.  

Just had to show this cool logo! 

Glad I could revive this awesome thread! 

- Emily