A 311-year-old Stradivarius violin sold for $11.25 million at Sotheby’s on Friday, in a closely watched auction that drew interest from investors, collectors and classical musicians.
The violin was made by the famed Italian luthier Antonio Stradivari in 1714, during the so-called golden period of violin making. It was owned later owned by one of the greatest violinists of the 19th century, the Hungarian-born virtuoso Joseph Joachim, a close associate of Johannes Brahms.
The Stradivarius was sold by the New England Conservatory, which plans to use the proceeds of the sale to endow a student scholarship program. The instrument was previously owned by an alumnus of the school, Si-Hon Ma, who died in 2009. His estate donated the instrument to the New England Conservatory in 2015 with a provision that it could one day be sold to finance student scholarships.
“Now we really have the chance to have it benefit so many more students — generations of students to come,” said Andrea Kalyn, the president of the conservatory.
Among violins sold publicly at auction, the current record is held by the so-called “Lady Blunt” Stradivarius, once owned by the granddaughter of Lord Byron, which sold in 2011 for $15.9 million.
The instrument sold on Friday was one of several violins owned by Joachim, who premiered the Brahms violin concerto in 1879.
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