I was wondering if someone could help me translate (well, and read I suppose it's handwritten) about 75 words of French. If so, please PM.

 

Thanks!

Marc, I could give it a try.  If I can't understand it, I'll send to my friend in France.  He and his wife (she's French) won't have any trouble with it.

Send it over. We live in Quebec.

Sent x2. Thanks!

Speaking Quebecois won't help.  The note isn't in French, it's in Belge!

you're evil, Ken.

Thanks guys, I actually figured out what I needed to know from it. I needed a Belgian Dr. Wood as it turned out. Now I know that "bois d'abeille" or Beeswood (whatever that is) is not a adjective, but a noun or species of wood. I doubt even Ken's contacts would have been able to figure this one out (who knows I guess), but I now know this and that's what is important.

We'll see.  I haven't heard back from them yet.

 

From doing a google search, this wood is either "Bee wood" or Manikara.

 

 

Edit:  Just got an email from my friend.  He and his wife will "puzzle it out".  For me, the problem more was deciphering the hand-written words (i.e. determine the letters of the word).  They'll be able to do that.

Edited February 27, 201313 yr by guzziguy

Speaking Quebecois won't help.  The note isn't in French, it's in Belge!

 

 

 

 

We'll see.  I haven't heard back from them yet.

 

From doing a google search, this wood is either "Bee wood" or Manikara.

 

 

Edit:  Just got an email from my friend.  He and his wife will "puzzle it out".  For me, the problem more was deciphering the hand-written words (i.e. determine the letters of the word).  They'll be able to do that.

 

I think we got about 30-40% of it. The handwritten parts were particularly tough to decipher the letters for us, too.

OK, my friend sent back a response.  Here it is:

 

Ok, the handwritten part:

 

Violon ... Dans toutes ces parties principales de : Pierre Cuniot.

Baguette ronde en beau bois d'abeille brun rouge de belle qualité

Housse ėbène à grains de nacre montée en maillechort, avec :

 - passant legèrement arrondi sur les angles

 - talon carré

 - coulisse fixée à l'où (?) de la goupille

Bouton ébène maillechort, 3 pièces, à double gorge fixé par goupille dans chaque viole,

Beau specimen de ce grand maître français, en bon état à ce jour et fait vers 1860.

Something like that. I might have missed a few accents here and there. 

There
are a few specialist terms in there. I'll try to clarify. Baguette=rod.
Bois d'abeille=beewood? Maillechord=alloy of CuNiZn. Goupille=pin.
Viole=cylinder with holes for pin. 

 

Whew. Anne found one of these things on sale from Southby's for 3000 Eur. Imagine that.

 

Update forthcoming

Maillechort might be what we know in Spanish as "Alpaca" or "German Silver". Its English word could be "albata".

Edited February 28, 201313 yr by Torpedo

Maillechort might be what we know in Spanish as "Alpaca" or "German Silver". Its English word could be "albata".

It is "nickel" in English

You guys rock, much appreciated. Beeswood and ironwood were used during Napoleonic Wars when pernambuco was in shortage as well as later for cheaper bows. Nickel was also used for a lower class of bows compared to silver or gold. These were the words I needed to know and to ensure the parts were original and no major repairs.

I do have a hereditary nickel allergy that I am wondering would bother me in this case. I decided to avoid the non traditional wood but found another bow with a similar certificate that I jumped on. Coming over the pond from Belgium as we speak

Edited February 28, 201313 yr by luvdunhill