Stradivarius violin sells for record $3.5M

A 300-year-old Stradivarius violin sold for more than $3.5 million US in New York on Tuesday, a record for a musical instrument sold at auction.

Christie's auction house opened bidding at $700,000 US but in less than five minutes it soared beyond $2 million, drawing gasps and whispers from the room.

The winning bid, which came by phone from an anonymous buyer, was $3,544,000. The previous highest price for a Stradivarius violin sold at auction was $2,032,000in April 2005, Christie's said.

The violin, made in 1707 by Italian violin maker Antonio Stradivari, is one of the world's most prized musical instruments.

The full-sized violin is known as '"The Hammer," because it was owned in the 1800s by Christian Hammer, acollector from Sweden.

It comes from what is known as Stradivari's "golden period," a stretch between 1700 and 1720 when the violins he made are considered to have superior beauty and sound.

"It's always been fashionable to own a Stradivari," said Kerry K. Keane, who heads Christie's department of musical instruments.

He described the bidder as "a gentleman who is international" and a "benefactor and patron of the arts" and hinted the violin could soon be heard on stages worldwide.

The violin's former owner, who also wanted to remain anonymous, bought it privately in 1992 from an estate and lent it to a number of violinists, including Kyoko Takezawa, an orchestral soloist, recitalist and recording artist.