The Stradivarius violin sells $ 11.3 million at auction: NPR

A violin Stradivarius sold on Friday at $ 11.25 million at auction, showing the continuous attraction of legendary instruments, while being below a record.

The video of the Sotheby’s auction in New York shows the auctioneer Phyllis Kao opening auctions at $ 8 million. The offers quickly reached $ 10 million, then the auctions stopped.

The final price includes auction house fees. Sotheby’s said that he could not share information on the buyer’s identity. The auction house expected the instrument to sell $ 12 to 18 million.

Sotheby called the violin Joachim-ma Violin, built by Antonio Stradivari in 1714 in Cremona, Italy. It was very notable to have been played for decades by Joseph Joachim, one of the most famous violinists of the 19th century. He was acquired by the violinist Si-Hon Ma in 1967, whose succession gave him to the Conservatoire de la Nouvelle-Angleterre after his death.

The Conservatoire, which has had the violin in the last decade, said that the sale of the sale would go to a scholarship program.

“The sale is transformational for future students, and the product will establish the largest scholarship appointed to the New England Conservatory. It was an honor to have the Joachim-Ma Stradivari on the campus, and we are impatient to see its inheritance Continue on the world internship, “said Andrea Kalyn, president of the Conservatoire, in a press release.

The record for the largest amount paid for an auction instrument remains with the “Lady Blunt” Stradivarius, produced in 1721, which brought up $ 15.9 million in 2011.