The so-called the ‘Baltic’ Guarneri del Gesù has sold at a Tarision online auction for a record $9.44 million. That’s three times the previous top price for an instrument from that maker.
It was previously ownned by a Hong Kong amateur.
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It’s absolutely not the top price for a del Gesu…private sales have eclipsed 12 million. Perhaps a record at a Tarisio auction, yes – but not “a record for the maker”.
Anne Akiko’s fiddle, anyone? Her husband bought it for her for 16MM
Aaron Rosand’s del Gesu went for $10 million years ago.
Yes, it’s an AUCTION record, as clearly stated above.
How and why a Picasso can fetch ten times as much—we may not be able to know. A del Gesu is a living object. It does something, in a way that has yet to be equaled. It’s rarer than a Strad and more consistently of the highest tonal qualities. Heifetz, Paganini, Vieuxtemps, Ysaye, Zukerman and others all preferred their del Gesus.
There might be 700 Strads out there, a mixed bag tonally (and when did 700 make a violin maker’s work rare? How many other makers have 700 violins out and about?).
Bravo on the sale. We can only hope it’s played by a special violinist and not tucked away in a billionaire’s closet.
The lord Wilton del gesu was sold by Canadian collector David Fulton for 25 million a few years ago. The 9.4 mil for the Baltic is a world record for a del gesu sold at auction, not a record if you include private sales.
Yes. Auction histories are available to the public and the media. The highest price ever paid at auction is provable.
The highest price paid in a private sale is unknown. You wouldn’t know if some wealthy individual in Bosnia or Hong Kong purchased a del Gesu for $100 million.
Anon, there’s nothing the violin trade is interested in more than in continuously increasing prices of rare instruments. You can bet your tuchus the news of a private sale to the tune of 100 million would find its way to the public. No chance would that information remain private.
Secondly, a violin trade insider told me today that the family who owns the Del Gesu Baltic was offered 10 million for the violin in a potential private sale in 2001, and they declined. That’s over 17 million in today’s money. There you have it.
These violins should be played, and bought by, and sold to patrons.