LAMY : A FATHER, TWO BROTHERS, A COUSIN AND AN INTRUDER !  

Even for this family of craftsmen, such as Peccatte's one but with less damage, one tends to confuse or hide with tricks aimed at distorting reality, who really are the authors of the bows, gathering them all under the big umbrella of the surname LAMY. But while Peccattes were more or less all relatives, among LAMYS there is also an intruder!

Hippolyte Camille Lamy - Violin Bow

The story of the family Lamy is not exactly a happy one . Like many good talented craftsmen with entrepreneurial spirit, also the founder Joseph Alfred tried to set up a small dynasty. Out of the four children he had, only two of them became bowmakers, but as I said in my latest blog, the First World War, completely damaged his plan.

Hippolyte Camille, the first one of two sons who were bowmakers, was born on August 13, 1875 in Chateau-Thierry, where his father still works with Joseph Voirin at Pierre Louis Gautrot.

In 1890, already in Paris, he begins working in his father's workshop and between 1905 and 1910 he completes his training and defines his style, not very far from his father's, though less refined.

In '15 he is forced, like many others , to stop working due to the outbreak of the war. He will restart to work with his father in '18 until his death occured the following year. In 1919 he opens his personal business.

His work is generally of a good level and never goes too far from the style of his father, though less elegant.
After 1930, probably because of a disease, he gradually begins to loose his sight, so that at the end of his career, he was forced to work with three pairs of glasses, one above the other. Consequently, the quality level is lowered in these years.
He dies on January 14, 1942 in Paris and with him the last representative of the family disappears.

Violin bow - cooperation Joseph Alfred / Leon Georges Lamy

Georges Léon Lamy, younger brother of Hippolyte Camille, and youngest child of Joseph Alfred, who was born on August 27, 1881, is also the most unlucky of the family.
Like his brother, he begins his career in his father's workshop in the early twentieth century. He learned the style of his father, but has no enough time to accomplish its evolution.

In 1914 he is called in the army, and died in battle on September 28 of the following year.
He is the most gifted of the two brothers, already at an early age his lines are soft and straight, a sign of an excellent manual skill , certainly superior to the father. Unfortunately, due to the untimely death, his bows are very difficult to find and they are often confused with those one of his father or brother.

Both brothers have always marked the bows with the father's stamp : "A. Lamy à Paris"

And here the relatives network ends !

Alfred Lamy, was born at Mirecourt on June 3, 1886 and he is the grandson of Joseph Alfred "Pére" (brother's son), and cousin of Hippolyte Camille and Georges Léon.

He begins his apprenticeship with Bazin, then moves to Nancy in 1901 by Jacquot where he remains until 1906.

In the same year he comes back to Mirecourt, he marries Emilie Giustine Lagrave and begins to work by Cuiniot-Hury, by whom he remains until 1911.

In 1914 he too was called in tthe army and probably contracted an unspecified illness, which leads to his death after a few years.

In 1919, he opens his business and begins to stamp with his name; "A.Lamy" or "Alfred Lamy," but business is not going very well, and in 1921 he is forced to return to work for Laberte.

Even in the case of Alfred, due to the early death, we can not speak of a personal style. His bows are much more approachable to the Bazin's school , rather than that of his uncle.

And now the intruder !  

A few weeks ago a customer looking for a violin bow entered my workshop: after I showed him those one of my colleague, he shows me a bow that he had taken for a test from a dealer of his town.

I ask him: "Do you want to know who did it or if it works?", He replies: "I know who did it, there is a certificate by Raffin telling that it is a bow made by Lamy in collaboration with his teacher Martin ".

"Pardon ?!"

Martin, except for a few years, between 1858 and 1863, during which he was in by Vuillaume and has worked with F.N. Voirin, has never departed from Mirecourt, and all Lamys, except for the cousin, too young to be his student, worked in Paris.

He has trained many excellent craftsmen, but no Lamys,  probably they hardly knew each other.

I ask again: "But on the certificate, may be there is written Martin/Thibouville-Lamy?".

He answers: "Yes, yes, that's the name, Martin / Thibouville-Lamy .

Again: "Who told you that Martin was Thibouville-Lamy's teacher ?"

Obvious answer: "The dealer who is selling  it "

You may not believe it, but it was a great effort to make him believe that Martin was a great bowmaker but had set up a small business and with the help of workers who were often young and not very experienced built low, sometimes very low quality bow for "Louis Emile Jérome Thibouville-Lamy."

I was forced to let him read directly from Raffin (see : LOUIS EMILE JEROME THIBOUVILLE -LAMY, THE MANAGING DIRECTOR) that the Thibouvilles were manufacturers of wind instruments and Jerome had never built a bow in his life, but he only traded them .

Thibouville added the maiden name of his wife, who was not related to other Lamy, but was a cousin of Claude Charles Husson, luthier, to sell a few more bows using the shadow of an important surname. Apparently the choice was right; it works still nowadays.

The bow I just described is still for sale, to an absurd price since I saw Chinese bows that were made in a better way. Thibouville was the Yamaha of that era, and had price lists comparabled with this type of product, so there was no trick , but business strategy. But that sum is armed robbery!
It 's still around, be careful !

So long.

Paolo