The most expensive violin in the world was created by the master, Vieuxtemps Guarneri in 1741, just three years before his death. Bein & Fushi the world's foremost traders in rare violins put it for sale in Chicago. It would be a wide margin if it achieves the asking price of $18m (£12m), the most expensive musical instrument on Earth. The violin belongs to a great violinist and composer of the 19th Century, Henri Vieuxtemps, who called it “the most beautiful creation of the master and the most perfect instrument in the world.” According to Guardian reports it has been played by some of the greatest virtuosi in the world. It is dubbed as the Mona Lisa of violins.
Geoffrey Fushi said it was one of the most atypical of Guarneri's output and larger than most, with huge protrusion. "I believe it is a living entity, a living being," Fushi told the Guardian. "Musicians say the same thing — that the instrument dictates to them how they play the music." With the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Peter Quint, a soloist has performed on the Vieuxtemps several times. "This instrument has the most unbelievable power, not just in loudness but in sound quality. It has a huge palate of colours that allow you to express a wider range of emotions."
Other notables who have played and paid homage to the Vieuxtemps are Yehudi Menuhin, Pinchas Zukerman and Itzhak Perlman. Christened after Henri Vieuxtemps, a 19th century musician, the Vieuxtemps Guarneri is also hailed as the Mona Lisa of violins. At present this instrument is in the hands of a retired British financier and music philanthropist, Ian Stoutzker, who bought it from Sir Isaac Wolfson, founder of Wolfson College, Oxford.
Mr. Fushi said, “There will come a time, maybe 20 years from now, when you won’t be able to buy a Strad or a Guarneri for any amount.” In 1967 it is sold for $80,000, which at the time was about three times the going rate for a top Guarneri. The previous record price detained by another Guarneri, the Kochanski, which was sold for $10 million last October. The Vieuxtemps is expected by the observers to go to a museum or hedge fund or other institutional collector, as the days in which private individuals and players could afford any Guarneri, let alone a prime specimen, is long since past. Fushi said he had received terminology of attention from all over the world.
David Fulton, a retired Microsoft magnate still has one of the only collections of violins in private hands. The Chi Mei Museum in Taipei and the Japan Foundation in Tokyo has the biggest collections,both of which are possible resting places for the Vieuxtemps Guarneri.
The Vieuxtemps Guarneri was played by Pinchas Zukerman during a concert in Pashkov House, Moscow, on March 21, 2008. Lawyer Maxim Viktorov bought it for auction in February, 2008 at Sotheby's auction. It was sold for a world-record price of US$3.9 million dollars.
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