The sale of the ‘Lady Blunt’ Stradivarius (eventually going for $15,894,000) on June 20th sparked massive interest from collectors around the globe, eager for the unique opportunity to own a piece of history. Owned for 30 years by Lady Anne Blunt, granddaughter of the famous English poet Lord Byron, the violin has also belonged to the famed Parisian dealer Jean Baptiste Vuillaume. Remarkably, as Andrew Hill of the W. E. Hill firm points out, the violin “…is in much the same condition as when it left its maker’s hands.”
