W.E Hill & Sons: A Legacy of Quality and Vision

Very few fine stringed instrument shops master so much of what musicians need to produce fine music – and what collectors need to establish value.

Some people know W.E. Hill & Sons for their fine violin bows. Others for the fine cellos and violins the firm made during the late 19th and most of the 20th century. Auctioneers tout the firm for its restoration work and scholarship on the Stradivarius and Guarneri luthier families. And in the realm of fine violin cases, there really is no comparison to W.E. Hill & Sons for intricate craftsmanship and beauty.

The fact that very different perspectives of fine stringed instruments – from the players to collectors and scholars – all find ways to appreciate, respect and even revere the work of this firm speaks volumes. They were skilled with levels of expertise and breadth that is rarely found under one roof.
To illustrate the attention to detail, this shop reportedly made its own tools. It’s what enabled them to perform at the top of their game in all other respects, in particular at bow making. Consider how the market values W.E. Hill & Sons bows at recent auctions: In 2017 and 2018, viola, cello and violin bows have sold for between $1,298 and $18,788 (US). Prices fetched at auction for instruments were as high as $54,000 (cello), $26,400 (violin), $23,600 (violin), $16,851 (violin), and $16,571 (violin). Auction houses handling the maker’s work include Tarisio, Freeman’s Auctions, Bonhams, Skinner, and Ingles & Hayday.

Based in London on the fashionable New Bond Street, the violinmaker was established in 1887, the height of the Victorian era, a time when the English fine stringed instruments were thought to have surpassed the workmanship of those made in France.

This was also a time when elaborate, ornate violin cases were made by the Hill organization, one of which was sold at auction in 2016 for $17,220. This particular case was one of the firm’s fabled “12 Apostles,” so named because only a dozen were made over an eight-year period (1887-1895), and was commissioned to house a Stradivarius. Cases of this exceptional vintage were inlaid with exotic woods in music motives, with brass hardware, and lined with fine paper

The violinmaker was also acclaimed for its work with damaged instruments, as well as their mastery at identification and authentication of violins, cellos, and bows. The firm handled at least three Stradivariuses (the Alard, the Messiah, and the Lipinski).

The violin shop’s legacy was honored with a special exhibit at the Bate Collection at the University of Oxford of W.E. Hill & Sons bows in 2016. Titled “Fiddle Sticks, the Story of Bow Making at Hills Violin Experts,” it included 17 bows from the firm that were made over a period of 75 years. Bow making tools and moulds, a recreated workshop, plus a short film, biographies of acclaimed luthiers in Hill’s employ and several photographs were part of the exhibit as well.

The firm was dissolved in 1992, capping off more than a century of fine craftsmanship, investigative authentication, and restoration work. Today, almost everything W.E. Hill & Sons touched carries great respect – and value.

Bow Making Port Townsend: The Mirecourt of the United States

A tiny fishing village on Washington’s Puget Sound is the place where fine stringed instruments and instrumentalists find their essential bow.

Violins, violas and cellos mostly get all the attention. They’re the principle instruments in the orchestra; they are played by the most recognized of string musicians (rare exception: Yo-Yo Ma and his cello). When you see a violinist traveling in an airport, the case shape gives away the nature of the contents, but that shape says nothing about the accompanying bow. A bow for all stringed instruments is commonly considered an appendage, a supporting player at best.

But that’s to the unaware, untrained, non-musician. Accomplished violinists, living and gone, the likes of Joshua Bell, Lindsey Stirling, Fritz Kreisler, Giuseppe Tartini, Antonio Vivaldi, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Hilary Hahn, and Leila Josefowicz, know that the bow is as essential as the instrument itself. Which is why the bow makers of Port Townsend, Washington, are so important among contemporary musicians and music lovers. But it isn’t just violin bows that are sought after. Fine cello bows and viola bows are always in demand.

Those bow makers include Kanestrom Bows, a shop run by Norwegian native Ole Kanestrom, who was preceded by Charles Espey and Paul Martin Siefried. A young up-and-comer is Cody Kowalski, who apprenticed under Espey and has already won international medals for his craftsmanship. Siefried learned his craft in his native Los Angeles but moved to Port Townsend in 1991, attracted by the natural seashore environment.

The fine violin bows crafted in Port Townsend might sell for upwards of $10,000, the product of 60 hours of work (give or take). Bows are made of increasingly rare pernambuco, which is sourced from trees that grow only in the coastal forests of Brazil. The laws of economics tell us that the more rare a supply of anything, the higher the price (assuming that thing is of valuable utility, which a bow most certainly is). But those same laws suggest that if something fetches a high price, it will attract other makers who will increase the supply and bring down the price.

A price drop is not likely to happen anytime soon. These are not easy to make, they cannot be made of such quality by machines, and the dedication to this craft – as seen in the Port Townsend archetiers (what bow makers are called, the counterpart to violin makers, who are called luthiers).

That craft starts with a conversation between archetier and the violin player (cello, viola, and viola da gamba players as well). This is because a bow is very personal, and where one bow might work with the style and artistry of one player it may not for another; a bow that can manage through a bright glissando might be less able to produce the sound expected in a sonorous, low-register passage. Characteristics that matter are balance, feel, and weight. The strings, made of horsehair, matter as well, but those will be replaced many times over the long life of the bow.

So why Port Townsend? Bowmakers and violinmakers in Mirecourt established themselves in the northeastern French city as early as 1629 in part due to the guild system of master craftsmen and their apprenticeships. Port Townsend also has its experts – Kanestrom, Espey, Siefried, and Kowalski – who draw both customers and apprentices. In a global supply system of pernambuco, ebony and silver (for the bow’s frog), and horsehair, location is less important than the presence of master teachers.

Port Townsend is also an artists’ enclave, which certainly contributes to its place in crafting this essential part of stringed instruments. After all, doesn’t the end result of the artisan’s work, great music, make for a better archetier?