Lady Blunt sells for £8.75 million

Stradivari's 1721 Ludy Blunt violin has sold for a whopping £8.75 million, after an intense 2 hours of bidding which saw almost £3 million slapped on the starting price of £6 million.  Tarisio's auction bidding history shows that two bidders escalted the price between 6.36pm and 8.03pm this evening, with the eventual winning bid being made by 080193XX, an particularly anonymous moniker that gives no clues as to where this increadible instrument will reside.

UPDATE:  The final price of the violin has been revealed as £9.808 million, presumably including auction fees.  Tarisio's press release calls the instrument 'without doubt the best preserved Stradivarius to come on the market in 40 years', and is by some distance a world record for a violin sold at auction.

Lady in waiting

Time's almost up in the auction of the year.  Bidding for the Lady Blunt Stradivari violin of 1721 ends at 7.30pm today (BST), though as of 1pm today, the action has yet to begin.  It's hoped that it will raise more than $10 million for the Japanese earthquake relief effort, though its sale has hardly come at the most boyant of economic moments.

Tarisio, the auction house, is taking bids on a range of instruments from potential buyers all over the world, but the lots were today assembled in London and Devil's Trill paid them a visit.  The viewing took place in the rather plush setting of a central London hotel, with Tarisio operating from a second floor room overlooking Conduit Street.  The Lady Blunt was immediately obvious on leaving the lift, protected in a glass case at the centre of the room with light streaming in the large windows behind.  I was a little surprised that the other instruments, with values ranging from £1000 to £120,000) were simply displayed on open tables (don't worry, Devil's Trill didn't touch).  The Lady Blunt herself was every bit as unspoiled as Tarisio's extensive photographs suggested, and perhaps a little more so than the Royal Academy of Music's Viotti Strad of 1709, which is also reputed to be one of the best preserved.  The varnish of the Lady Blunt looked, if anything, a little redder than the Viotti's, though the difference in presentation (the LB in full sunlight, the Viotti in the RAM's light-controlled museum) made it difficult to be sure.

Strad for sale for Japan

Need a Strad in your life?  Got $$$ to spare?  Tarisio, the online instrument auction house, is offering one of the best preserved of Antoini Stradiviari's violins for sale in June.  The Nippon Music Foundation has offered up the Lady Blunt Stradivari of 1721, from their collection, in response to the Japanese earthquake and tsunami disaster.  All the money raised will go to the disaster relief effort, an extraordinarily generous gesture given that the violin is expected to sell for several million pounds.  Tarisio has a great deal of information about the instrument, including photos, at their website.  Public viewings will take place in London in late June - Devil's Trill plans to be there to take a look at this fabulous instrument.