A violin made by the famous Italian luthier and craftsman Antonio Stradivari in 1714 could become the most expensive musical instrument ever sold.
As per Associated Press, the instrument known as Joachim-Ma would be put for auction on Friday at Sotheby’s New York, with its estimated value between $12 million to $18 million.
If the instrument is sold at the higher end, it could beat the "Lady Blunt," another Stradivarius's violin, which was sold for $15.9 million in 2011.
The 1721 Stradivari is titled the most expensive instruments ever sold at auction in Guinness World Records as of now.
Mar-Claudia Jimenez, Sotheby’s Americas President and head of global business while describing the masterpiece as "the best violin of this era," shared that the Italian craftsman made this violin during his golden period in 1700s.
"So this is the peak of his output," Jimenez noted.
History of Joachim-Ma
The ownership history of the musical instrument was described as extraordinary, as it was named after its two famed owners – violin virtuoso Joseph Joachim of Hungary, and China's Si-Hon Ma.
Joachim lived from 1831 to 1907, and Si-Hon Ma, who was born in China in 1926 chose to spend majority of his life in U.S as he moved to the states in 1948 and passed away in 2009.
It is also believed that renowned composer Johannes Brahms was motivated by Joachim-Ma when he wrote his "Violin Concerto in D Major" due to its rich, resonant tone.
Furthermore, Joachim played the 1714 beauty during the concerto’s 1879 as per Sotheby’s.
Ma acquired the violin in 1969, which was later gifted to the New England Conservatory in Boston after his death, where he earned his master's degree in 1950.
The Conservatory is putting the violin up for auction, with all the proceeds going to student scholarships.
Antonio Stradivari in his life produced 1,116 instruments, out of which 960 were violins, from which only nearly 500 survived, making Joachim-Ma a rare find and worth the high-price.
