A rare English baroque violin bow by Ex-Hill & Sons Achetier, Arthur Bultitude in ironwood, with a snakewood frog and ‘mammoth’ button. Weighing 54.6 grams, this bow was a favorite of Staryk’s because of the trigger in the thumb projection of the frog, allowing the violinist to further tension the hair during performance for affectation.

Arthur Bultitude (1908-1990) entered the employ of W.E. Hill & Sons at the age of 14 where he was a pupil of Napier and William Retford. His Hill bows were marked “6” to the faceplate of the head. He left H & S briefly during WWII to work in an aircraft factory but returned for another 16 years before finally establishing an independent workshop in Kent. His bows are often highly decorated and feature exotic materials and ornate engravings.

Steven Staryk was perhaps the defining voice of Canadian violin playing in the 20th century, boasting a discography of 30+ titles and over 190 compositions. At 24, he became the youngest concertmaster of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and earned a storied reputation as concertmaster of the Amsterdam Chamber Orchestra, the Concertgebouw, the Toronto Symphony, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and taught at the Vancouver Academy of Music, University of Victoria, University of Toronto, University of Ottowa, the University of Western Ontario, The Royal Conservatory of Music, the American Conservatory in Chicago, The Amsterdam Conservatory, Northwestern, and Oberlin.