Feb. 3 (UPI) — A Sotheby’s auction is slated to sell an important musical instrument crafted by a noted violin maker later this week. It possibly could be auctioned to the tune of millions of dollars.
The rare violin made in 1714 by famed Italian violin artisan Antonio Stradivari — known as the “Joachim-Ma” — will be up for auction on Friday in New York City.
“No other musical instrument maker of any sort has become so embedded in the public consciousness or the cultural domain,” violin expert John Dilworth wrote in a release.
Currently owned by the New England Conservatory Fund, it’s estimated to be valued between $12 to $18 million.
Violinist and teacher Si-Hon Ma in 1967 bought the Joachim-Ma before leaving it to the NEC upon his death. It was originally owned by Hungarian violinist Joseph Joachim.
The violin, with a rich red brown color varnish over an amber gold ground, will be sold to establish the “largest named student scholarship fund” in NEC’s more than 100-year history.
It bears the maker’s label: “Antonius Stradivarius Cremonenfis Faciebat 1714.”
However, according to global Sotheby’s auction firm, a Stradivarius violin is “not like other antiques” as questions lingered for generations on the details behind its craftsmanship.
Recent testing revealed that the latest visible tree-rings on the violin’s bass and treble sides dated to 1699.
“How Stradivari’s name has become so widely known and revered above all others begs many questions,” stated Dilworth.
Antonio Stradivari began making instruments around 1665 as the beneficiary of more than 100 years of “diligent” and “perfected” craftsmanship by the Amati family, Sotheby’s added.
Sotheby’s officials say the “superiority” of Stradivari violins initially was established in a series of concerts by Giovanni Battista Viotti in Paris at the Concert Spirituel in 1782 nearly 50 years after Stradivari died.
However, prior research suggested that modern violins do outperform those made by Stradivarius.
American scientists said previously that chemicals used to treat the wood in Stradivarius violins were responsible for its famous sound.
Tests in 2009 showed a number of chemicals in the wood, including borax, fluorides, chromium and iron salts.
