311-year-old Stradivarius violin sells for $15 million at Sotheby’s auction

The Joachim-Ma Stradivarius was sold by Boston’s New England Conservatory of Music, which plans to use the proceeds to endow a scholarship programme.

A 311-year-old Stradivarius violin was sold for US$11.25 million at Sotheby’s on February 8th, in a closely watched auction that drew interest from investors, collectors and classical musicians.

The violin was made by famed Italian luthier Antonio Stradivari in 1714, during the so-called golden period of violin making. It was later owned by one of the greatest violinists of the 19th century, Hungarian-born virtuoso Joseph Joachim, a close associate of German composer and pianist Johannes Brahms.

The Stradivarius was sold by the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, which plans to use the proceeds of the sale to endow a student scholarship programme.

The instrument was previously owned by an alumnus of the school, Mr Si-Hon Ma, who died in 2009. His estate donated the instrument to the New England Conservatory in 2015 with a provision that it could one day be sold to finance student scholarships.

“Now we really have the chance to have it benefit so many more students – generations of students to come,” said Ms Andrea Kalyn, president of the conservatory.

Sotheby’s said the buyer wishes to remain anonymous.

Among violins sold publicly at auction, the record is held by the so-called Lady Blunt Stradivarius, once owned by the granddaughter of Lord Byron, which sold in 2011 for US$15.9 million.

The instrument sold on February 7th was one of several violins owned by violinist Joachim, who premiered the Brahms violin concerto in 1879.

Ms Simin Ganatra, chair of the strings department at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University in Bloomington, said the connection to Joachim, who was also a composer, was a major selling point.

“For a musician to play the instrument he once played is a magical experience and something you really cannot put a price on,” she said.

The violin that sold on February 7th is known as the Joachim-Ma Stradivarius.

Rare violins once owned by famed virtuosos, including Fritz Kreisler, Jascha Heifetz and Yehudi Menuhin, have sold privately in recent years for up to US$20 million, according to dealers. The instruments they played typically bear their names.

The auction of the Joachim-Ma violin drew substantial news media attention in recent weeks. Sotheby’s called the instrument a “masterpiece of sound” and initially estimated the sale at US$12 million to US$18 million.

But the bidding began at US$8 million, and it sold for US$10 million. With buyer’s fees, the price came to US$11.25 million.

Before the Feb 7 auction, violinist Geneva Lewis, a graduate of the New England Conservatory, performed the Largo from Bach’s Sonata No. 3 on the Joachim-Ma violin.

While there is a booming market for Stradivarius instruments, the skyrocketing prices have put them out of reach for most violinists. Collectors and institutions sometimes buy them, and lend them out to performers.

The New England Conservatory allowed four students to use the Joachim-Ma Stradivarius over the past decade for a period of one to two years, according to Ms Kalyn. She said having a rare instrument of that calibre at the conservatory was a privilege, but that the school felt a sale could help even more students.