Lady Blunt, World’s Most Expensive Stradivari Violin
One of the world’s best preserved Stradivarius violins, a rare instrument that dates back to 1721, is being auctioned off to raise funds for Japanese earthquake and tsunami relief. The Lady Blunt violin, named after early owner Lady Anne Blunt, an aristocrat and granddaughter of Lord Byron, is being sold by the Nippon Music Foundation, who bought it in 2008 for more than $10 million.
The Stadivarius Violin is in pristine condition because it has been played infrequently during its lifetime. It still shows the tool marks and brushstrokes of Stradivari, violin expert, maker and restorer Christopher Reuning, who runs Boston’s Reuning & Son Violins, said in a statement. The Lady Blunt is perhaps the best-preserved Stradivarius to be offered for sale in the past century.
On June 20, Lady Blunt will go under the virtual hammer with instrument specialist auction house Tarisio, who last year sold The Molitor Stradivarius to violinist Anne Akiko Meyers for $3.6 million. [Tarisio]
