Lady Blunt Stradivarius

The 1721 Lady Blunt
"Lady Blunt" redirects here. For the mistress of King Henry VIII, see Elizabeth Blount.

The Lady Blunt Stradivarius violin of 1721 is a violin made by Italian luthier Antonio Stradivari of Cremona, Italy[1] The violin 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]

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.cozio.com/Luthier.aspx?id=17
  2. ↑ "Rare Stradivarius Violin to be Sold". Sophie Hull (artsandcollections.com). 2011-05-03. Retrieved 2011-06-16.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Stradivarius violin sold for £9.8m at charity auction". BBC News. 2011-06-21. Retrieved 2011-06-21.
  4. ↑ Gill, Caroline (2011-04-28). "$10m Strad to be auctioned for Japan tsunami fund". Gramophone. Retrieved 2011-06-21.
  5. ↑ Gamerman, Ellen (2011-04-30). "A $10 Million Fiddle? Stradivarius Takes Another Bow at Auction". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2011-06-21.
  6. ↑ "Stradivarius Sells for $15.9 Million to Help Japan Quake Relief". Bloomberg. 2011-06-20.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Stradivarius to be sold to raise money for Japan quake". BBC News. 2011-05-02. Retrieved 2011-05-02.