The
auction house is estimating the value of the “Joachim-Ma
Stradivarius” at $12 million to $18 million. If it sells at the
top end of that range, it could best the $15.9 million paid in
2011 for another Stradivarius, the “Lady Blunt,” made in 1721
and named by Guinness World Records as the most expensive
instrument ever sold at auction.
Mari-Claudia Jimenez, Sotheby’s Americas president and head of
global business, said Stradivari made the violin during his
“Golden Period," which began around 1700 and was marked by an
improvement in his craftmanship.
"So this is the peak of his output," Jimenez said. "This is the
best violin of this era.”
Sotheby's says the violin's preservation is remarkable, and its
ownership history extraordinary.
It's named for two of its famed owners — violin virtuosos Joseph
Joachim of Hungary, who lived from 1831 to 1907, and Si-Hon Ma,
who was born in China in 1926, moved to the U.S. in 1948 and
died 2009.
It is believed that legendary composer Johannes Brahms was
influenced by the Joachim-Ma when he wrote his “Violin Concerto
in D Major” because of its rich, resonant tone, and that Joachim
played that violin during the concerto's 1879 premiere,
according to Sotheby's.
Ma acquired the violin in 1969 and his estate gifted it to the
New England Conservatory in Boston after his death. Ma attended
the conservatory, where he earned a master's degree in 1950. The
conservatory is now putting the violin up for auction, with all
the proceeds going to student scholarships.
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