Stradivarius record sale

A RARE Stradivarius violin has smashed the world record after selling for over £9 million (€10m) at a London auction, with all proceeds going to help victims of Japan’s devastating earthquake and tsunami.

An anonymous bidder at the Tarisio auction house paid £9,808,000 for the 1721 “Lady Blunt” Stradivarius, over four times the auction record for a Stradivari violin.

The exquisite instrument was owned for 30 years by Lady Anne Blunt, granddaughter of the celebrated English poet Lord Byron, and is “in much the same condition as when it left its maker’s hands,” expert WE Hill said.

The violin was acquired by the Tokyo-based Nippon Music Foundation in 2008, and 100% of the funds from the sale will be channelled to victims.