NEW YORK, United States — A rare
Stradivarius violin that belonged to a Russian-American virtuoso and was used
in the “
Wizard of Oz” soundtrack sold at auction in New York Thursday for $15.3
million, just below the record for such an instrument, according to auction
house Tarisio.
اضافة اعلان
The violin, made in 1714 by master craftsman Antonio
Stradivari, belonged to virtuoso Toscha Seidel, who not only used it on the
score for the 1939 Hollywood classic, but also no doubt while teaching his
famous student Albert Einstein.
“This violin has set side by side with the great
mathematician scientist as they played quartets in Albert’s home in Princeton,
New Jersey,” said Jason Price, founder of Tarisio, which specializes in
stringed instruments.
Seidel, who immigrated to the US in the 1930s, and
Einstein, who fled the Nazi regime in Europe, participated in a New York
concert in 1933 in support of fleeing German Jewish scientists.
Of the thousands of instruments made by Stradivari,
there are still around 600 known today.
“Of those, many are in museums, many are in
foundations and are in situations where they won’t be sold,” Price said.
“There’s a select few which are known as the Golden
Period examples, which is approximately between 1710 and 1720,” he said.
“And these, for the most part, are those which are
most desired and most highly valued.”
The violin had previously belonged to the Munetsugu
collection in Japan. Tarisio did not reveal who the buyer was.
The record for a Stradivarius at auction was set in
2011, when a violin baptized “Lady Blunt,” said to have belonged to Lady Anne
Blunt, granddaughter of the poet Lord Byron, was sold for $15.9 in London.
In 2014, another Stradivarius whose auction price was set at
a minimum of $45 million did not sell.
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