The Top Five Most Expensive Violins in the World | 5 Most Expensive Violins Views&Reviews

The Top Five Most Expensive Violins in the World | 5 Most Expensive Violins Views&Reviews

#Violin #FiveMostExpensiveViolin #TopFiveViolin #TopViolinsInTheWorld The Top Five Most Expensive Violins in the World These violins were created by some of the most famous violinmakers, such as Antonio Stradivari and Guarneri ‘del Gesù’, have passed through the hands of Paganini, Yehudi Menuhin and Itzhak Perlman and cost, at the lowest estimate, well over one million dollars. 5. The ‘Baron von der Leyen’ Stradivarius – 2 million euro Antoni Stradivari’s masterpiece the ‘Baron von der Leyen’ dates from 1705, the ‘Golden Age’ of the Italian luthier. It takes its name from an early owner Baron Friedrich Heinrich von Freidrich von der Leyen (1769-1825), a rich German textile merchant who appears to have had a keen interest in instruments. He also owned two other Stradivarius violins. The Norwegian philanthropist Anton Fredrik Klaveness later owned the violin. It was most recently bought by an anonymous buyer for nearly 2 million euros at 2012 Tarisio auction. 4. The ‘Solomon, ex-Lambert’ Stradivarius - 2 million euro The sale of this ‘late’, 1729 Stradivarius at Christie’s for more than 2 million euros to an anonymous buyer caused a stir in 2007. The violin does not date from the famous maker’s ‘Golden Age’ but rather from his later ‘Mature’ period. The violin gets its name from two of its owners, the British violinist Dorothy Mary Murray Lambert a pupil of Carl Flesch and Leopold Auer, who had a career as a soloist in the 1920s and ‘30s, and the American entrepreneur and co-founder of Vanguard Records, Seymour Solomon. 3. The ‘Hammer’ Stradivarius – 2.5 million euro The cost of a Stradivarius has soared in recent years. The ‘Hammer’ was valued at between $1.5 million and $2.5 million by Christie’s before being auctioned on May 16, 2016. It was ultimately bought by an anonymous bidder for a record-breaking $3.54 million. It was previously owned by the Nippon Music Foundation, who loaned it to violinist Kyoko Takezawa. The violin was designed in 1709, in Antonio Stradivari’s ‘Golden Age’; it is named after the Swedish collector Christian Hammer. 2. The ‘Molitor’ Stradivarius – 2.5 million euro A persistent rumour named Napoleon Bonaparte as one of the owners of this 1697 Stradivarius. This is not far from the truth, it belonged to Juliette Récamier a socialite and prominent figure of the First Empire; she was immortalised in a number of paintings, most famously by Jacques-Louis David. In 1804 the violin was passed on to Gabriel Molitor, a general of the Empire, for unknown reason. He was also a musician and the Stradivarius remained in his family until the First World War. The ‘Molitor’ changed hands frequently throughout the twentieth century. In 1989 it was in the possession of American violinist Elmar Oliveira. Five years later, she exchanged it for Albert Stern’s ‘Lady Stretton’ Guarneri de Gesu. Stern kept the ‘Molitor’ until 2010 when he auctioned the precious instrument at Tarisio. Violinist Anne Akiko Mayers purchased it for 3.6 million dollars (a record). She is used to playing exceptional instruments, she also plays the ‘Royal Spanish’ Stradivarius, and the ‘Vieuxtemps’ Guarneri de Gesu, which cost somewhere in the region of $16 million in 2012. The buyer of the ‘Vieuxtemps’, who remains anonymous, has given Mayers use of the violin for life This record-breaking violin was sold for £84,000 at Sotheby’s in 1971, with the auction house calling on Yehudi Menuhin to demonstrate the quality of the violin. 40 years later, in 2011, the violin was once again put up for auction, by Tarisio, this time to help raise funds for two organisations involved in providing relief to victims of the natural disasters in Japan. It exceeded the record set by the ‘Molitor’ reaching 9.8 million pounds, more than 11 million euro. The reason for this ridiculous price? Firstly, the exceptional condition of the instrument; made in 1721 by Antonio Stradivari, during his ‘Gold Age’, ‘The Lady Blunt’ has passed from collector to collector ensuring that it has remained in almost original condition. It has hardly been played and so was not subject to the alterations seen in most 18th century violins. From the hands of French luthier Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume it passed to Lady Anne Blunt, in the mid-19th century. It is she, daughter of Ada Lovelace and granddaughter of Lord Byron, who gives the precious violin its nickname. 1. The ‘Lady Blunt’ Stradivarius – 11 million euro