As expected, the Ex-Croall Stradivari violin was sold by the auction house Ingles & Hayday for over 2 million euros. The auction took place at the historical Sotheby’s galleries in New Bond Street, London. To be precise, the 1684 fine violin by the Great Cremonese Violin-making Master was auctioned for 1.92 million pounds, that is about 2.2 million euros.
SOLD A CENTURY AGO FOR £553. The Ex-Croall violin is also known as “Croall McEwen”. In 1885 William Croall, son of a popular family of carriage makers and keen collector of ancient string instruments, bought the instrument that later was sold to another Scotsman, R.F. McEwen, for £553 (in 1908). Nowadays, this amount would equal about 200 thousand pounds (labour value calculated), thus showing the increase in value the instrument has undergone over a century.
KEY-VIOLIN IN STRADIVARI’S CORPUS. The Ex-Croall violin, still in good conditions, is considered as a key-violin in Stradivari’s production. As Jost Thöne, popular dealer and researcher of Stradivari’s instruments, explains, “among 1680 and 1690, Stradivari introduced some important changes to his style, changes that would have gone through all his career”. The instrument has recently been performed by great musicians, such as Frank Peter Zimmermann (1985-1990), Alexander Gilman (2006-08) and Suyeon Kim (since 2011). In 2012, in an interview with The Strad, Zimmermann also defined the violin as “ a natural extension of the body”.
CREMONESE HISTORICAL INSTRUMENTS ON DISPLAY AT CREMONA MUSICA. On the occasion of Cremona Musica, international Exhibition for high quality musical instruments, taking place every year on the last weekend of September in the hometown of Stradivari, Amati and Guarneri del Gesù, ancient string instruments lover can admire and experience first hand rarities belonging, in particular, to the Cremonese school.