Rare Stradivarius violin raises more than 15 million dollars
A Stradivarius violin, which can be heard in the soundtracks of various Hollywood films, has been auctioned in New York for $15.3 million (14.6 million euros). The violin, made in 1714 by the Italian instrument maker Antonio Stradivari, belonged to a Japanese collector who put it up for sale.
The Russian-American musician Toscha Seidel owned the instrument for a long time and used it for the soundtrack of the Hollywood classic The Wizard of Oz (1939) and other films. The auction house has not disclosed who purchased the violin.
The record set at auction for a musical instrument dates back to 2011. At the time, a Stradivarius belonging to Anne Blunt, granddaughter of the poet Lord Byron, sold for nearly $15.9 million in London. In 2014, another copy, whose minimum price was set at $45 million, was not found at Sotheby’s.