The Strad article discusses October London auction results with a Gagliano violin and Sartory bows highlighted. Ingles & Hayday sold a 1783 Gennaro Gagliano violin for £216,000; Ingles & Hayday total sales were about £2 million with 54.5% lots sold; Tarisio sold 78.3% after-sale with two top lots left. The piece is part of The Strad January 2026 & String Courses 2026.
The Strad reports on auctions in London’s October sales, including highlights such as a brace of Gaglianos and a cavalcade of Sartory bows; Ingles & Hayday sold a 1783 Gennaro Gagliano violin for £216,000.
Viktoriia reports that a rare 1715 Stradivarius known as the Baron Knoop sold in a private transaction for $23 million (£17.8 million), setting a new world record for violins. The instrument was crafted during Stradivari’s Golden Period and last changed hands from US collector David L. Fulton, who purchased it in 1993 for $2.75 million, to an anonymous buyer with the sale brokered by Joseph Bein of Bein & Company.
Emmanuel Camarillo reports that Cyrus Spurlock’s one of a kind maple and spruce violin, a gift from his older brother who crafted it, was stolen on a CTA train at Clark and Lake; Spurlock, 22, is offering a cash reward and the instrument is valued at $10,000.
A Giovanni Grancino violin valued at $650,000, made in 1694, was stolen from a University of Southern California borrowed instrument and later recovered in good condition. A homeless man was charged with felony grand theft in connection with the theft.
The 1694 Giovanni Grancino violin was reported stolen from a USC student on April 2 and has been recovered by the Los Angeles Police Department; a suspect has been charged in connection with the theft. The instrument is valued at $650,000.
Timothy Johnson, 39, of Douglas, is charged with one felony count of robbery and three misdemeanor counts of resisting or obstructing an officer in connection with the theft of a one-of-a-kind violin from Cyrus Spurlock on a CTA Blue Line train in the Loop. The rectangular case has been recovered, the violin itself remains missing, and Spurlock values the instrument at $10,000 while hoping for information leading to its return.
The Los Angeles Times reports that a Giovanni Grancino violin, made in 1694, was stolen from USC on April 2 and recovered by LAPD with a suspect charged with grand theft. LAPD Det. Stephanie Gutierrez helped locate the instrument, which has a certified value of $650,000.
A Milanese 1694 Giovanni Grancino violin worth $650,000 was recovered after being stolen from a University of Southern California graduate music student on April 2, 2025. Detective Stephanie Gutierrez led the investigation, and a suspect has been charged and arrested; the violin had been on loan from private owners in LA to a Koreatown music shop.
BBC News reports that a violin once played by Titanic band leader Wallace Hartley in the 1997 film sold for £54,000 at auction. The instrument, used to perform Nearer My God To Thee as the ship sank, was auctioned by Henry Aldridge and Son in Wiltshire; a letter by survivor Archibald Gracie sold for £300,000 at the same auction.
AP News reports that a violin built in 1941 by Franciszek Kempa while imprisoned at Dachau contains a hidden note describing it as a trial instrument made under difficult conditions. The note, dated Dachau 1941 and signed by Franciszek Kempa, was discovered by Hungarian art dealers during a repair, revealing the instrument’s troubled origin and Kempa’s craftsmanship. Dachau, near Munich, was the site of brutal captivity until its liberation in 1945, with tens of thousands believed to have died.
Armenian violinist Haik Kazazyan won the inaugural Classic Violin Olympus in Dubai, taking €200,000 and a Stradivari-model violin. The event featured 12 violinists performing in six rounds at Dubai’s Jumeirah Zabeel Saray, with Kazazyan delivering renditions of Tchaikovsky, Strauss, Beethoven and Alexey Shor and an encore inspired by a YouTube recording of Frank Peter Zimmermann.
The article reports that Antonio Stradivari made few violas and that one of the surviving violas, the 1690 Tuscan-Medici viola, was acquired by the Library of Congress as a gift from David and Amy Fulton and The Tuscan Corporation. The instrument has a custody history including previous loan to the Library since 1977 and is now part of the LOC collection, renamed to Antonio Stradivari, Cremona, 1690, viola, Fulton, ex Baird, Tuscan-Medici.
The article reports that David and Amy Fulton and the family of Cameron Baird have donated the 1690 ‘Tuscan, Medici’ Stradivari viola to the Library of Congress in a transaction valued at $30 million. It notes the viola’s history, including its loan to the Budapest String Quartet and its permanent gift by the Fulton/Baird family.