Guarneri Violin Fetches Record Price, Sotheby's Says
by Zoe Strimpel
Thu, 14 Feb 2008 at 5:13 PM
Sotheby's yesterday sold a Guarneri violin once owned by the composer Henri Vieuxtemps to a Russian businessman for the highest auction price ever paid for a musical instrument, the auction house said. Maxim Viktorov paid an undisclosed amount, "well in excess" of pre-existing records, for the instrument. The previous record was held by a 1708 Stradivarius known as the Hammer, which was sold at Christie's in New York for $3.54 million in May 2006. The record for a Guarneri sold at auction was set in 1988, when a 1743 specimen from Cremona went for £572,000 ($1,126,088 at the current exchange rate) at Sotheby's in London.
To celebrate the sale, British concert violinist Chloe Hanslip played the Russia-bound violin at Sotheby's — a program that included the technically gritty 24th Caprice by Paganini and pieces from the film, "The Red Violin."
The Guarneri, which was made in the 1740s, will join Mr. Viktorov's already sizable collection of 15 violins. Mr. Viktorov is not your average businessman with an eye for expensive antiques; he is the chairman of the famous Paganini Moscow International Violin Competition.
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