For those of you who have not seen it, a fine Tourte copy by André Chardon was auctioned last day which was owned by Ginette Neveu, a French violinist who would have been the greatest violin player all-time, had the she not tragically died on an air-plane crash at an early age.
Let me quote the Strad magazine April 1995 edition.
..."But on 28 October their plane crashed near the summit of a mountain on São Miguel Island, in the Azores Archipelago, killing all 48 passengers and crew. Marcel Cerdan, former world middleweight boxing champion (and Edith Piaf's lover) was also on board. The shock was immediate and world-wide. Talk of foul play circulated for years: newspaper reports in Paris and New York detailing clear weather and an experienced pilot failed to put the rumours to rest.
Several days after the accident, officials from Air France visited the Vatelot shop, carrying Neveu's case and two bows: one undamaged, stamped "W.E. Hill & Sons", a Fleur-de-Lys model, gold mounted with a tortoiseshell frog; the other a Chardon, badly broken. The case had deep scratches across the top, but was otherwise intact. Vatelot confirmed that these were indeed the bows of Ginette Neveu. Asked where they had been found, the visitors told of a man in the Azores village who was using the beautiful Hill & Sons bow: when questioned, he said he had found it on the mountain and promptly relinquished it. Hearing this incredible story, Vatelot asked, "And the violins?". The officials replied, "Oh, the violin played by that man was so old, and he played it so badly, that we knew it couldn't be important."
The Omobono Stradivari was never recovered. Years later, the scroll of the Guadagnini surfaced in Paris, having changed hands several times once salvaged from the debris.'"...
Could this be the bow that she was carrying during the crash? I've spoken to Raffin and he said that this bow was in absolute mint condition, almost unplayed and with original tinsel lapping. Vatelot received the broken bow given by Air France officials upon retrieval and probably remained in his possession for the remainder of his life time just like the bow at Vichy.
There are several possible scenarios
1: This is the same bow that was retrieved however official records were wrong and the bow survived
2: This is the same bow but it is broken and repaired. This is however very unlikely considering I asked mr Raffin explicit to check the condition of the bow and he said there were no repairs.
3: Ginette Neveu had another André Chardon bow in Vatelot's keeping that she used as a spare
The bow is illustrated in Les Archets Francais by Etienne Vatelot
