Nicolas Maline

One of the foremost French bowmakers, Nicolas was the son and pupil of Guillaume, born in 1822 in Mirecourt. He is assumed to have subsequently worked alongside Nicolas Maire in the workshop of Etienne Pajeot. From about 1840 he was supplying bows to J.B. Vuillaume in Paris. He saw military service during the 1848 revolution and was decorated with the Légion d’Honneur. From around 1870 he was joined by his son Nicolas Auguste, who continued the workshop after his own death in 1877. His bows have round sticks, and are generally in the style of Peccatte, although becoming more idiosyncratic in later years. Most are branded by Vuillaume, and he made frogs with the distinctive Vuillaume feature of a rounded lower face. Is own brand MALINE is also found, sometimes in conjunction with the cross of the Légion d’Honneur.