The Price Of Perfection

Pippa Cuckson reveals the massive investment often required to match a musician with the stringed instrument they deserve.

CLASSICAL music is a high-octane business, but 21st-century string players have an extra pressure: begging the use of a violin or cello worthy of their talent. Even Yehudi Menuhin played a borrowed violin, made in 1741 by Guarneri del Gesù. It was recently sold by J. & A. Beare for more than $16 million (£12.2 million) to an anonymous patron and is now on lifetime loan to American soloist Anne Akiko Meyers.

Collectors have always recognised the investment potential, of course. Values, especially of instruments from the 17th- and 18th-century Italian workshops of Stradivari, Montagnana, Guadagnini, Guarneri and Amati, have doubled every 20 years since 1945. Coutts recently reported that they’ve overtaken fine art and classic cars in returns; Nigel Brown, founder of the Stradivari Trust, estimates annual appreciation of 8% to 10%.

Antonio Stradivari remains the most coveted (the public auction record is £9,808,000, sold by Tarisio in 2010), although other more affordable European makers appreciate just as healthily—Beare’s director Steven Smith reckons £2 million for a good Guadagnini. When auctioneer Tim Ingles joined Sotheby’s in 1994, he recalls selling violins for JeanBaptiste Vuillaume for about £30,000; now, he says, expect £100,000–£200,000.

On top of concerns that too many instruments are resting in bank vaults comes a new hurdle for players on the cusp of an international career: unprecedented demand from the Far East. Since 1992, the Chimei foundation in Taiwan has bought nearly 1,400 important violins—one borrower is the great Yo-Yo Ma.