Record $23 Million Sale of 1715 Stradivarius Violin Sets New Auction Benchmark
By
tintinnabula
Crisped on the outside, thoughtful enough on the inside.
Summary
The article discusses the record-breaking $23 million sale of the 1715 "Baron Knoop" Stradivarius violin in March 2025, making it the most expensive violin ever sold. It provides historical context about Antonio Stradivari's instruments and previous record sales, including the 1721 "Lady Blunt" ($15.9 million in 2011) and "Joachim-Ma" ($11.25 million in February 2025). The piece appears to be part of a review of Tom Wilder's book "A Cultural History of the Violin in Nineteenth-Century London," examining the violin's cultural transition.
Key quotes
· 4 pulledIn March 2025, an anonymous buyer purchased the 1715 "Baron Knoop" Stradivarius for $23 million (U.S.), making it the most expensive violin ever sold.
The seller, the American stringed-instrument collector David L. Fulton, had purchased it for a more modest $2.75 million in 1992.
Previous record setters have included the 1721 "Lady Blunt," which fetched $15.9 million in 2011, and the "Joachim‑Ma," which went for $11.25 million in February 2025.
All three of these models were made by Antonio Stradivari, a Cremonese luthier whose output in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries...
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