The Lady Blunt Stradivarius violin of 1721 is a violin made by Italian luthier Antonio Stradivari of Cremona.[1] It is named after its first known owner Lady Anne Blunt, daughter of Ada Lovelace, granddaughter of Lord Byron.
The Lady Blunt is one of the two best-preserved Stradivarius violins in existence.[2] It has survived, like the Messiah Stradivarius of 1716, in near-original condition since it has resided mostly in the hands of collectors and seen little use.
This violin was sold at auction by Sotheby's in 1971 for the then-record amount of £84,000[3] (US$200,000)[4].
In 2008 it was sold to the Nippon Music Foundation for over US$10 million in a private transaction[5]. The Lady Blunt was sold by Tarisio Auctions on their 20 June 2011 online auction for £9.8 million (US$15.9 million)[3], more than four times the previous auction record for a Stradivarius, held by the Molitor when it sold for US$3.6 million in 2010[6]. The proceeds will go to the Nippon Foundation's Northeastern Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund[7]. When it went up for sale it was called the best-preserved Stradivarius to be offered for sale in the past century.[7]