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| Violin Value (3) |
Troubled Times:
The 20-Million-Dollar-Violin |
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The best violin from London is now about to be sold in Chicago - a clear indication that times have become worse. It is a Guarneri del Gesu violin from 1741. For 11 years, it was played by the great Belgian virtuoso Henri Vieuxtemps who died in 1881 and who passed it on to famous soloist Eugène Ysaye. Since 1966, it has been owned by the London banker Ian Stoutzker. In his youth, he studied at the Royal College of Music under Albert Sammons and he cherishes the Guarneri highly. He once showed me where he keeps it in his mansion: under the bed, always ready at hand.
But these are troubled times and the 79-year-old Stoutzker has to let go of some of his treasures. For the Guarneri, he sets a price of 20 million Dollars. That would be twice as much as the highest amount that has ever been paid for a musical instrument. He might be right though, as a violin does not lose its value and now that banks and stocks are no longer secure investments, big money is now invested in pieces of art and collectibles.
BY NORMAN LEBRECHTT
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