Apart from being a foremost violin maker, he was also a superb bowmaker. His former studio foreman, Dale Walton, told me before his death that Van de Geest always stamped bows made by himself as 'J.J. v. d. GEEST', omitting the & Sons part. This stamp he reserved for his personal work. His bows were truly superb with excellent playing properties, which led many to say that he should rather have been a bowmaker. However, they are very seldom encountered and can be considered as rarities. I handled three of his bows previously and Walton identified two of them positively as Van de Geest's personal work.

I consider this silver-mounted cello bow as the personal work of J.J. van de Geest, stamped as discussed above. It was probably made around 1960. It is possible though that the current three-ring silver adjustor button is not the original. Furthermore, as with another cello bow of his that I sold some time ago, the original tip slide would almost certainly had been of silver, but in this case one can assume that the ivory tip in this bow was done later to replace the original slide. Everything about this bow shows attention to detail and the frog is a perfect fit to the stick.

This bow has superb playing properties. It has a long history of professional use and should be in the hands of a professional who would appreciate its fine qualities.