Music History: A Violin by Antonio Stradivari Is Projected to Fetch $11 Million in an Upcoming Auction - Arts & Culture

The inlaid instrument is engraved with ivory diamonds and furnished with a golden varnish, a rarity given Stradivari’s catalog. 

For Christie’s “The Exceptional Sale” on July 7, the auction house offers a rare 1679 violin as its top lot. Created by renowned Italian craftsman Antonio Stradivari, it’s projected to fetch $11 million, as per CNN

Stradivari, who died in 1737, brought the craft of violin-making to its highest pitch of perfection. According to Christie’s, the Hellier Stradivari became the “blueprint” of future violin models, which affected the future centuries of music and generations of violin makers.

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 Florian Leonhard, Christie’s Consultant, said that after handling “countless” Stradivaris, Hellier is one of the most impressive instruments in existence. 

“The warmth and personality that an instrument of this caliber exudes inspires a sense of youthful excitement in anyone fortunate enough to hold it in one’s hands,” the consultant says in a press release. 

Unsurpassed craftsman

“This violin epitomizes, more than most, the vision of Stradivari’s ability to develop things forward; a reason why he deserves his place in the zenith as the unsurpassed violin maker of all time.”

The inlaid instrument is engraved with ivory diamonds and furnished with a golden varnish, a rarity given Stradivari’s catalog. 

“Of the roughly 1,100 instruments Stradivari made over the course of his career, only around a dozen are embellished with decoration, and this specimen is regarded by the Smithsonian curators as the best-preserved extant example,” Christie’s said in a statement.

As the craftsman kept the violin for 55 years since its creation, it was thought he refused to sell it. Until 1734, he sold the instrument to its namesake, Sir Samuel Hellier of Wombourne, England, as recorded in the 1880s. 

According to Leonhard, Stradivari’s violins cost between $8 million to $20 million.

Images from Christies.com

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