HOW MANY ANTONIO STRADIVARI INSTRUMENTS STILL EXIST IN THE WORLD ?

n 1908 a famous Belgian violinist named Eugene Ysaye was on a concert tour in St. Petersburg in Russia.  He had with him four Stradivarius violins.  One of the Strads was stolen from his hotel room, and was not recovered. In 1951 a soldier in the Korean war found a violin hidden in the wall of a rundown farm house.  It was subsequently authenticated as a genuine Stradivarius. Out of such stories as these – which are supposed to be true – has arisen a collectors’ myth.  That myth is that you might find an incredibly valuable Strad yourself – hidden away in your attic or basement or perhaps at a yard sale down the block.  And many people actually have found violins which carry the name of that master genius of violin-makers, the maestro of Cremona, Antonius Stradivari (whose name some misrepresent as “Stradivarius”).  But these people are most often the victims of a cruel, if perhaps unwitting, hoax. Antonio Stradivari was born in 1644 and set up his shop in Cremona, Italy, where he made violins and other stringed instruments (harps, guitars, violas and cellos) until his death in 1737.  He took a basic concept for the violin and refined its geometry and design to produce an instrument which has served violin makers ever since as the standard to strive for.  His violins sang as none had before them, with a clearer voice and greater volume, and with a pureness of tone which made them seem almost alive in the hands of a great violinist.  His was one of three great families of violin makers in Cremona during the 1700s and 1800s, the other two being those of Guarneri and Amati, but Stradivari’s violins have been judged by history to be the best. Two of Stradivari’s sons continued his work after his death. Every Strad was made entirely by hand, with a painstaking care devoted to the selection of woods and even the texture of the finishing varnishes.  This was no assembly-line operation, and the best estimates have Antonio producing no more than around 1,100 instruments, including the violins, in his entire lifetime.  Of these, an estimated 630 to 650 still survive the more than 250 years since they were made.  512 of these survivors are violins.  Many others were destroyed in fires or other accidents, were lost at sea or in floods, and some were destroyed by the fire-bombing of Dresden in World War II.  Virtually none are unaccounted for.  Today a genuine Strad is worth two to three million dollars. So where did those violins which have turned up in attics and closets all over the world come from?  Why would anyone who found one think he had a real Strad?   The answer is very simple: copies. Today master violin-makers are using modern science – including the latest scanning devices and digital imaging techniques – to unlock the “secrets” of Stradivari and recreate instruments of his quality.
One Canadian violin-maker, Joseph Curtin, and his American partner, Gregg Alf, created a copy, right down to every scratch and shading of varnish, of a specific instrument known as the Booth Stradivari, which Stradivari made in 1716.  It sold at a Sotheby’s auction in 1993 for $42,460 – to a concert violinist. But for close to two centuries much shabbier copies have been made and sold – bearing “Stradivarius” labels.  For this reason, the presence of a Stradivarius label in a violin does not mean the instrument is genuine.   The usual label – both genuine and false – carries the Latin inscription “Antonius Stradivarius Cremonensis Faciebat Anno [date],” which gives the maker (Antonio Stradivari), the place (Cremona), and the year of manufacture, the actual date either printed or handwritten.  It was this Latin label which gave the world the name “Stradivarius.” After 1891, when the United States required it, copies might also have the actual country of origin printed in English at the bottom of the label: “Made in Czechoslovakia,” or just “Germany.”   Hundreds of thousands of these copies were made in Germany, France, central and eastern Europe, England, China, and Japan, starting in the mid-19th century and continuing into current times – and literally millions exist today.  They bear counterfeit labels proclaiming them to be by not only Stradivari but Vuillaume, Amati, Bergonzi, Guarneri, Gasparo da Salo, Stainer, and others. Music shops and mail order houses originally sold these violins at prices which made it plain no deception of the buyer was intended – some were claimed to be “tributes” – they ranged from $8.00 to $27.00 apiece, and were identified in advertisements as “copies” or “models.”  But their similarity to the instruments they were copied from is minimal to a trained eye – or ear.   While some involved hand-crafting, the vast majority were mass-produced.  It was not until 1957 that the words “Copy of” were added to some of the labels. Even today one can find advertisements for a “Stradivarius Violin” which comes “Complete with Decorative Stand and Bow,” and is claimed to be “a wonderful replica of the eminent Stradivarius violin,” designed for displaying “on the wall or atop a bureau or coffee table” for a mere $29.95. Once in a while a real Strad turns up – usually after a theft or accidental loss.  In 1967 a 1732 Strad, named for the Duke of Alcantara and owned by UCLA’s Department of Music, was loaned to a member of UCLA’s Roth String Quartet. He apparently either left it on top of his car and drove off, or had it stolen from inside his car.  A woman turned up with it in 1994, claiming her former husband’s aunt had given it to her husband, and she had acquired it in a divorce settlement.  She said their family lore had it that the aunt had found the violin beside a road.   UCLA eventually gave the woman $11,500 to regain the violin and avoid a protracted court fight. So what should you do if you find a violin with a Stradivarius label – or that of any other famous violin maker from centuries ago?  You should have it appraised by an expert, and most such experts are members of the American Federation of Violin and Bow Makers.  Expect to pay for the appraisal. The authentication of a violin can be determined only by a careful examination of such factors as the design, model, craftsmanship, wood, and varnish.   It’s not hard to separate out the mass-produced violins from the actual hand-made instruments, but it takes a well-trained violin appraiser to be able to attribute the violin to a specific maker or place of manufacture. Don’t expect your find to be genuine.  The odds against finding the real thing are slim to none.  Nevertheless, you might have a decent violin, and if you can play the instrument, that will be its own reward. Here below, you can have a list with existing original Stradivari instruments. So before you buy one…just double check this list and don’t blive in stories…

VIOLINS:

Sobriquet Year Provenance Notes
ex-Back 1666 Royal Academy of Music currently displayed as part of Royal Academy’s York Gate Collection
Dubois 1667 Canimex Foundation on loan to Alexandre da Costa
Aranyi 1667 Francis Aranyi (collector) sold at Sotheby’s London, 12 November 1986
ex-Captain Saville 1667 Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume;
Captain Saville (1901-1907)
Amatese 1668 though listed in many reference books as one of Stradivari’s earliest instruments, the modern consensus is that it is not a Stradivari; it was sold Sotheby’s New York 3 February 1982 as “an interesting violin.”
Oistrakh 1671 David Oistrakh Stolen from the Museum of Musical Culture in Russia in May 1996 but recovered in 2001.
Sellière 1672 Charles IV of Spain
Spanish 1677 Finnish Cultural Foundation on loan to Elina Vähälä
Hellier 1679 Sir Samuel Hellier Smithsonian Institution
Paganini-Desaint 1680 Nippon Music Foundation this violin along with the Paganini-Comte Cozio di Salabue violin of 1727, the Paganini-Mendelssohn viola 1731, and Paganini-Ladenburg cello of 1736, compose a group of instruments referred to as the Paganini Quartet; on loan to Kikuei Ikeda of the Tokyo String Quartet
1680 The collection of Mr & Mrs Rin Kei Mei
Fleming 1681
Bucher 1683
Cipriani Potter 1683
Cobbett; ex-Holloway 1683 on loan to Sejong brokered by the Stradivari Society
ex-Croall 1684 WestLB
ex-Elphinstone 1684
ex-Arma Senkrah 1685
ex-Castelbarco 1685
Goddard 1686 Miss Goddard; Antonio Fortunato
Ole Bull 1687 Ole Bull (1844);
Dr. Herbert Axelrod (1985-1997)
Donated to the Smithsonian Institution in 1997 by Herbert R. Axelrod. Now part of the Axelrod quartet.
Mercur-Avery 1687 on loan to Jonathan Carney, concertmaster of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra since 2002
1688 The collection of Mr & Mrs Rin Kei Mei
Auer 1689 on loan to Vadim Gluzman brokered by the Stradivari Society
Arditi 1689 Dextra musica AS, Norway on loan to Elise Båtnes, concertmaster, Oslo Philharmonic
Baumgartner 1689 Canada Council for the Arts on loan to Judy Kang
Spanish I 1689 Patrimonio Nacional, Palacio Real, Madrid, Spain date range 1687-1689; part of a duo of violins (Spanish I and II) referred to as los Decorados, and los Palatinos; also collectively known as del Cuarteto Real (The Royal Quartet) when included with the Spanish Court viola (1696) and cello (1694).
Spanish II 1689 Patrimonio Nacional, Palacio Real, Madrid, Spain date range 1687-1689; part of a duo of violins (Spanish I and II) referred to as los Decorados, and los Palatinos; also collectively known as del Cuarteto Real (The Royal Quartet) when included with the Spanish Court viola (1696) and cello (1694).
Bingham 1690
Bennett 1692 Winterthur-Versicherungen on loan to Hanna Weinmeister
Falmouth 1692 on loan to Leonidas Kavakos
Gould 1693 George Gould
Metropolitan Museum of Art
bequeathed by Gould to the Metropolitan Museum in 1955
Harrison 1693 Richard Harrison; Henry Hottinger; Kyung-wha Chung in the collection of the National Music Museum
Baillot-Pommerau 1694 Formerly owned by Arthur Catterall, then by Alfredo Campoli
Rutson 1694 Royal Academy of Music on loan to Clio Gould
Fetzer 1695
1697 Edvin Marton Dima Bilan, together with Evgeni Plushenko, and Edvin Marton playing his Stradivarius, won the Eurovision Song Contest 2008
Cabriac 1698
Baron Knoop 1698 one of eleven Stradivari violins associated with Baron Johann Knoop
Joachim 1698 Royal Academy of Music
Duc de Camposelice 1699
Lady Tennant; Lafont 1699 Charles Phillipe Lafont;
Marguerite Agaranthe Tennant
on loan to Xiang Gao brokered by the Stradivari Society; sold at Christie’s auction US$2.032 million, April 2005
Longuet 1699
Countess Polignac 1699 on loan to Gil Shaham.
Castelbarco 1699 Library of Congress Presented by Gertrude Clarke Whittall
Kustendyke 1699 Royal Academy of Music
Crespi 1699 Royal Academy of Music
The Penny 1700 Barbara Penny
Dragonetti 1700 Nippon Music Foundation Formerly owned by Alfredo Campoli
Jupiter 1700 Giovanni Battista Viotti
Taft; ex-Emil Heermann 1700 Canada Council for the Arts on loan to Renée‑Paule Gauthier
Dushkin 1701 on loan to Dennis Kim, concertmaster, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra
Markees 1701 Music Chamber
Irish 1702 OKO Bank, Finland on loan to Réka Szilvay
Conte de Fontana; ex-Oistrach 1702 David Oistrakh (1953-1963); Riccardo  Brengola; Pro Canale Foundation Oistrakh’s first violin; on loan to Mariana Sirbu
Lukens; Edler Voicu 1702 A.W. Lukens; Jon Voicu; Romania Culture Ministry on loan to Alexandru Tomescu through 2012
King Maximilian Joseph 1702
Lyall 1702
Antonio Stradivari 1703 Bundesrepublik Deutschland on exhibit at Musikinstrumentenmuseum, Berlin
La Rouse Boughton 1703 Österreichische Nationalbank on loan to Boris Kuschnir of the Kopelman Quartet
Lord Newlands 1702 Nippon Music Foundation on loan to Toru Yasunaga
Allegretti 1703
Alsager 1703
Lady Harmsworth 1703 Paul Bartel on loan to Kristof Barati brokered by the Stradivari Society
Emiliani 1703 Anne-Sophie Mutter
ex-Foulis 1703 on loan to Karen Gomyo
Betts 1704 U.S. Library of Congress Presented by Gertrude Clarke Whittall
Sleeping Beauty 1704 L-Bank Baden-Wurttemberg on loan to Isabelle Faust. One of the few Stradivari violins to have retained original neck.
ex-Marsick; ex-Oistrach 1705 David Oistrach acquired in trade by Oistrach for the 1702 Conte di Fontana
“ex-Tadolini” 1706 The collection of Mr & Mrs Rin Kei Mei
ex-Brüstlein 1707 Österreichische Nationalbank
La Cathédrale 1707
Hammer 1707 Christian Hammer (collector) sold at Christie’s New York on 16 May 2006 for a record US$3,544,000 (€2,765,080) after five minutes of bidding
Burstein; Bagshawe 1708 owned by the Jacobs family, loaned to Jeff Thayer, San Diego Symphony concertmaster
Huggins 1708 Nippon Music Foundation on loan to Sergey Khachatryan
Ruby 1708 on loan to Chen Xi brokered by the Stradivari Society
Strauss 1708 on loan to Chee-Yun brokered by the Stradivari Society
Greffuhle 1709 Donated to the Smithsonian Institution in 1997 by Herbert R. Axelrod. Now part of the Axelrod quartet.
Berlin Hochschule 1709
Hammerle; ex-Adler 1709 Österreichische Nationalbank on loan to Werner Hink
Ernst 1709 on loan to Zsigmondy Dénes through 2003
Engleman 1709 Nippon Music Foundation on loan to Lisa Batiashvili
King Maximilian; Unico 1709 Axel Springer Foundation on loan to Michel Schwalbé, concert master of the Berlin Philharmonic (1966-1986); reported stolen in 1999
Viotti; ex-Bruce 1709 Royal Academy of Music purchased in 2005 for GB£3.5 million
Marie Hall 1709 Giovanni Battista Viotti;
The Chi-Mei Collection
named after the violinist, Marie Hall
ex-Kempner 1709 on loan to Soovin Kim
Camposelice 1710 Nippon Music Foundation on loan to Kyoko Takezawa
Lord Dunn-Raven 1710 Anne-Sophie Mutter
ex-Roederer 1710 on loan to David Grimal.
ex-Vieuxtemps 1710 on loan to Samuel Magad, concertmaster, Chicago Symphony Orchestra
the Lady Inchiquin 1711 previously owned by Fritz Kreisler played by Frank Peter Zimmermann, a German banking company, WestLB AG, bought it for his use.
Earl of Plymouth; Kreisler 1711 Los Angeles Philharmonic found in store room on the estate of the Earl of Plymouth along with The Messiah and Alard violins in 1925; purchased by Fritz Kreisler in 1928 and subsequently sold by him in 1946
Liegnitz 1711 previously owned by Szymon Goldberg
Le Brun 1712 Niccolò Paganini; Charles LeBrun; Otto Senn; sold at Sotheby’s auction 13 November 2001
Karpilowsky 1712 Harry Solloway missing: stolen in 1953 from Solloway’s residence in Los Angeles
Schreiber 1713
Antonio Stradivari 1713
Boissier 1713
Daniel 1713 on loan to Jhon Paul Reynols
Gibson; ex-Huberman 1713 Bronisław Huberman;
Joshua Bell
stolen twice from Huberman
Lady Ley 1713 Stradivarius family now bought by Jue Yao – Chinese violinist
Wirt 1713
Dolphin; Delfino 1714 Jascha Heifetz;
Nippon Music Foundation
on loan to Akiko Suwanai
Soil 1714 Amédée Soil; Yehudi Menuhin; Itzhak Perlman Subject of the Quest “Agatha’s Song” in the video game Fallout 3.
ex-Berou; ex-Thibaud 1714
Le Maurien 1714 missing: stolen 2002
Leonora Jackson 1714
Sinsheimer; General Kyd; Perlman 1714 Itzhak Perlman David L. Fulton
Smith-Quersin 1714 Österreichische Nationalbank on loan to Rainer Honeck
Alard-Baron Knoop 1715
Baron Knoop; ex-Bevan 1715
ex-Bazzini 1715
Cremonese; ex-Harold, Joseph Joachim 1715 Municipality of Cremona
Duke of Cambridge; Ex-Pierre Rode 1715 NPO “Yellow Angel” on loan to Ryu Goto
Joachim 1715 Nippon Music Foundation on loan to Sayaka Shoji
Lipinski 1715 on loan to Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra concertmaster, Frank Almond
ex-Marsick 1715 on loan to James Ehnes
Titian 1715 Jacob Lynam
Cessole 1716
Berthier 1716 Baron Vecsey de Vecse; Franco Gulli
Booth 1716 Nippon Music Foundation on loan to Shunsuke Sato; formerly loaned to Arabella Steinbacher; formerly loaned to Julia Fischer
Colossus 1716 missing: stolen 1998
Duranti 1716 Mariko Senju
Monasterio 1716 Cyrus Forough
Provigny 1716
Messiah-Salabue 1716 Ashmolean Museum Oxford on exhibit at the Oxford Ashmolean Museum
ex-Windsor-Weinstein; Fite 1716 Canada Council for the Arts on loan to Caroline Chéhadé
Baron Wittgenstein 1716 The Bulgarian state on loan to Mincio Mincev since 1979
Gariel 1717
ex-Wieniawski 1717
Kochanski 1717 Pierre Amoyal reported stolen in 1987; recovered in 1991
Sasserno 1717 Nippon Music Foundation on loan to Viviane Hagner
Viotti; ex-Rosé 1718 Giovanni Battista Viotti;
Österreichische Nationalbank
on loan to Volkhard Steude
Chanot-Chardon 1718 Timothy Baker;
Joshua Bell
shaped like a guitar; on loan to Simone Lamsma
Firebird; ex-Saint Exupéry 1718 Salvatore Accardo name is taken from the colouration of the varnish and its brilliant sound.
Marquis de Riviere 1718 Daniel Majeske played by Majeske while concertmaster of the Cleveland Orchestra from 1969-1993
San Lorenzo 1718 Georg Talbot on loan to David Garrett, while his Guadagnini is repaired. Initial news reports erroneously stated it was the San Lorenzo he had smashed.
ex-Count Vieri” 1718 The collection of Mr & Mrs Rin Kei Mei
Lauterbach 1719 Johann Christoph Lauterbach; J.B. Vuillaume; Charles Philippe Lafont
Madrileño 1720
von Beckerath 1720 Michael Antonello
Sinsheimer; Iselin 1721 reported stolen near Hanover, Germany in 2008; recovered in 2009.
Lady Blunt 1721 Paolo Stradivari named after Lady Anne Blunt, daughter of Ada Lovelace, granddaughter of Lord Byron.
Jean-Marie Leclair 1721 Jean-Marie Leclair; on loan to Guido Rimonda
Red Mendelssohn 1721 Mendelssohn Family;
Elizabeth Pitcairn
inspiration for the 1998 film The Red Violin
The Macmillan 1721 On Loan to Ray Chen through Young Concert Artists
Artot 1722
Jules Falk 1723 Viktoria Mullova
Jupiter; ex-Goding 1722 Nippon Music Foundation on loan to Daishin Kashimoto; formerly Midori Goto
Laub-Petschnikoff 1722
Elman 1722 Chi Mei Museum
Cádiz 1722 Joseph Fuchs on loan to Jennifer Frautschi; named after the city of Cádiz, Spain.
Kiesewetter 1723 Clement and Karen Arrison on loan to Philippe Quint brokered by the Stradivari Society Left by Quint in taxi on 21 April 2008, and recovered the following day.
Earl Spencer 1723 on loan to Nicola Benedetti
Le Sarasate 1724 Musée de la Musique, Paris bequeathed to the Conservatory by Pablo de Sarasate
Brancaccio 1725 Destroyed in an allied air raid on Berlin. owned by Carl Flesch, until 1928 where it was sold to Franz von Mendelssohn, banker and amateur violinist
Chaconne 1725 Österreichische Nationalbank on loan to Rainer Küchel
Leonardo da Vinci 1725 Da Vinci family
Wilhelmj 1725 Nippon Music Foundation on loan to Baiba Skride; one of several Stradivari violins with the sobriquet “Wilhelmj”
Greville; Kreisler; Adams 1726 Fritz Kreisler
Baron Deurbroucq 1727 Baron Deurbroucq (The Hague)(1870);
Robert Crawford (Edinburgh);
W.E. Hill & Sons (1902);
Hans Wessely (1903-1926);
David D. Walton (Boston) (1926);
Emil Herrmann (19??-1945);
Fredell Lack (1945-present)
Barrere 1727 on loan to Janine Jansen brokered by the Stradivari Society
Davidoff-Morini 1727 missing: stolen in 1995
ex-General Dupont 1727 Arthur Grumiaux on loan to Jennifer Koh
Holroyd 1727
Kreutzer 1727 Maxim Vengerov one of four Stradivari violins with the sobriquet Kreutzer (1701, 1720, 1731)
Hart; ex-Francescatti 1727 Salvatore Accardo
Paganini-Comte Cozio di Salabue 1727 Nippon Music Foundation this violin along with the Paganini-Desaint violin of 1680, the Paganini-Mendelssohn viola of 1731, and the Paganini-Ladenburg cello of 1736, compose a group of instruments referred to as the Paganini Quartet; on loan to Martin Beaver of the Tokyo String Quartet
Halphen 1727 Angelika Prokopp Private Foundation on loan to Eckhard Seifert
Vesuvius 1727 Antonio Brosa
Remo LauricellaTown of Cremona
A. J. Fletcher; Red Cross Knight 1728 A. J. Fletcher Foundation on loan to Nicholas Kitchen of the Borromeo String Quartet; the instrument was made by Omobono Stradivarius
Artot-Alard 1728 Endre Balogh a bench copy of this instrument was produced in 1996 by Gregg Alf and Joseph Curtin, using modern materials and methods;Balogh performs on both the 1728 original and the replica.
Dragonetti; Milanollo 1728 Giovanni Battista Viotti on loan to Corey Cerovsek
Perkins 1728 Los Angeles Philharmonic named after Frederick Perkins, formerly owned by Luigi Boccherini
Benny 1729 Jack Benny;
Los Angeles Philharmonic
bequeathed to the Los Angeles Philharmonic by Jack Benny
Solomon, ex-Lambert 1729 Murray Lambert;
Seymour Solomon
sold at Christie’s, New York for US$2,728,000 (€2,040,000)
Innes 1729 on loan to Eugen Sarbu; previously loaned to Wieniawski
Guarneri 1729 Canada Council for the Arts on loan to Nikki Chooi on loan to Nikki Chooi
Royal Spanish 1730 Anne Akiko Meyers once owned by the King of Spain
Lady Jeanne 1731 Donald Kahn Foundation on loan to Benjamin Schmid
Garcin 1731 Jules Garcin; Sidney Harth
Heifetz-Piel 1731 Rudolph Piel;
Jascha Heifetz
Baillot 1732 Fondazione Casa di Risparmio lent to Giuliano Carmignola for the DG recording of Vivaldi: Concertos for Two Violins
Duke of Alcantara 1732 an obscure Spanish nobleman described as an aide-de-camp of King Don Carlos; UCLA Genevieve Vedder donated the instrument to the University of California at Los Angeles’ music department in the 1960s. In 1967, the instrument was on loan to David Margetts. Whether it was left on the roof of his car or stolen is uncertain, but for 27 years the violin was considered missing until it was recovered from an amateur violinist who claimed to have found it on a freeway. A settlement was made and the Stradivarius was returned to UCLA in 1995.
Herkules 1732 Eugène Ysaÿe missing: stolen in Russia in 1908
Red Diamond 1732 Louis Von Spencer IV
Tom Taylor 1732 previously loaned to Joshua Bell
Des Rosiers 1733 Angèle Dubeau
Huberman; Kreisler 1733 Bronisław Huberman;
Fritz Kreisler
Khevenhüller 1733 Yehudi Menuhin
Rode 1733
Ames 1734 missing: stolen in 1981
Baron Feilitzsch; Heermann 1734 Baron Feilitzsch;
Hugo Heerman
Gidon Kremer
Habeneck 1734 Royal Academy of Music
Herkules; Ysaye; ex-Szeryng; King David 1734 Eugène Ysaÿe;
Charles Münch;
Henryk Szeryng;
State of Israel
Lord Amherst of Hackney 1734 Fritz Kreisler
Lamoureux; ex Zimbalist 1735 missing: stolen
Muntz 1736 Nippon Music Foundation on loan to Arabella Steinbacher
ex.Roussy 1736 Chisako Takashima
Comte d’Amaille 1737
Lord Norton 1737
Chant du Cygne; Swan Song 1737 Ivry Gitlis

VIOLAS: There are thirteen known extant Stradivari violas.

Sobriquet Year Provenance Notes
Tuscan-Medici 1690 Cosimo III de’ Medici commissioned by Cosimo III de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany; currently on loan to the U.S. Library of Congress
Axelrod 1696 Donated to the Smithsonian Institution in 1997 by Herbert R. Axelrod. Now part of the Axelrod quartet.
Archinto 1696 Royal Academy of Music
Spanish Court 1696 Patrimonio Nacional, Palacio Real, Madrid, Spain collectively known as del Cuarteto Real (The Royal Quartet) when included with the violin duo, los Decorados (Spanish I and II, 1687-1689), and the Spanish Court cello of 1694.
Kux; Castelbarco 1714 Royal Academy of Music converted from viol to viola by Jean Baptiste Vuillaume
The Russian 1715 Russian State Collection
Cassavetti 1727 U.S. Library of Congress Presented by Gertrude Clarke Whittall
Paganini-Mendelssohn 1731 Nippon Music Foundation this viola along with the Paganini-Desaint violin of 1680, the Paganini-Comte Cozio di Salabue violin of 1727, and the Paganini-Ladenburg cello of 1736, compose a group of instruments referred to as the Paganini Quartet; on loan to Kazuhide Isomura of the Tokyo String Quartet
Gibson 1734 Stradivari-Stiftung Habisreutinger Presented by David Greenless (Stradivari Quartett)

CELLI: Antonio Stradivari built between 70 and 80 cellos in his lifetime, of which 63 are extant.

Sobriquet Year Provenance Notes
ex-Du Pre; ex-Harrell 1673 Jacqueline du Pré
Lynn Harrell
General Kyd; ex-Leo Stern 1684 Los Angeles Philharmonic the instrument was stolen in 2004 and later recovered.
Marylebone 1688 Donated to the Smithsonian Institution in 1997 by Herbert R. Axelrod. Now part of the Axelrod quartet.
Barjansky 1690 Julian Lloyd Webber
ex-Gendron; ex-Lord Speyer 1693 Edgar Speyer; Kunststiftung NRW on loan to Maria Kliegel; previously loaned to Maurice Gendron (1958-1990)
Spanish Court 1694 Patrimonio Nacional, Palacio Real, Madrid, Spain collectively known as del Cuarteto Real (The Royal Quartet) when included with the violin duo, los Decorados (Spanish I and II 1687-1689), and the Spanish Court viola of 1696.
Bonjour 1696 Abel Bonjour
Canada Council for the Arts
on loan to Rachel Mercer
Lord Aylesford 1696 Nippon Music Foundation on loan to Danjulo Ishizaka; previously loaned to Janos Starker (1950-1965)
Castelbarco 1697 Library of Congress Presented by Gertrude Clarke Whittall
Cristiani 1700 Elise Barbier Cristiani
Jean Pierre Duport
On display at Stradivarius Collection in Civic Museum of Cremona
Servais 1701 National Museum of American History on loan to Anner Bylsma;
Paganini-Countess of Stanlein 1707 Bernard Greenhouse
Markevitch; Delphino 1709 Royal Academy of Music
Gore Booth; Baron Rothschild 1710 Rocco Filippini
Duport 1711 Mstislav Rostropovich (1974-2007)
Mara 1711 Heinrich Schiff
Davidov 1712 Karl Davidov
Jacqueline du Pré
on loan to Yo-Yo Ma.
Batta 1714 J. P. Thibout
Alexander Batta; W.E. Hill & Sons; Baron Johann Knoop; Gregor Piatigorsky
de Vaux 1717 on loan to Adam Klocek.
Amaryllis Fleming 1717 ex-Blair-Oliphant, ex-Hegar, ex-Kühn, ex-Küchler Owned by the late Amaryllis Fleming, half sister to writers Ian and Peter Fleming. Neck, head and table are not original, after extensive repairs in 18th century by Spanish luthier Jose Conteras.
Becker 1719
Piatti 1720 Carlos Prieto
Baudiot 1725 Gregor Piatigorsky
Chevillard 1725 Museu da Música (Lisbon)
Marquis de Corberon; ex-Loeb 1726 Royal Academy of Music Was once owned by Hugo Becker. Later owned by Audrey Melville who bequeathed it to the RAM in 1960. Her friend Zara Nelsova had lifelong possession of it, until her death in 2002, as a condition of Melville’s bequest.
De Munck; ex-Feuermann 1730 Emmanuel Feuermann Aldo Parisot
Nippon Music Foundation
on loan to Steven Isserli
Pawle 1730 Chi Mei Museum
Braga 1731 played by Myung-wha Chung
Stuart 1732 Steven Honigberg
Paganini-Ladenburg 1736 Nippon Music Foundation this cello along with the Paganini-Desaint violin of 1686, the Paganini-Comte Cozio di Salabue violin of 1727, and the Paganini-Mendelssohn viola of 1731, compose a group of instruments referred to as the Paganini Quartet; on loan to Clive Greensmith of the Tokyo String Quartet