1715 Strad Violin Sells for Record-Breaking $23 Million

March 11, 2025, 1:06 PM · The 1715 "Baron Knoop" Stradivari violin has sold for $23,000,000, shattering the previous price record set in 2011, when the 1721 "Lady Blunt" Stradivari violin was sold by Tarisio for $15,875,800.

The 1715 "Baron Knoop" Stradivari violin. Images courtesy David Fulton.

Crafted by the great Italian violin maker Antonio Stradivari during his "Golden Period," the violin is named for Baron Johan Knoop (1846–1918) a collector of dozens of great violins, violas, and cellos.

The violin had been owned for some 33 years by violin collector David Fulton, who bought the instrument in February 1992 for $2.75 million. "Utilizing the services of Peter Biddulph and Lilly Camden as my agents, a buyer was ultimately found by Joe Bein, son of my late, dear old friend Robert Bein." The violin was sold in late February to an anonymous American collector.

"The Baron Knoop is my absolute favorite among the many great violins I’ve owned. It was also the favorite of old Baron Knoop’s himself," said Fulton, who is 80 years old. "I’ve owned the Knoop more than 33 years. It seems optimistic to imagine I could own it for another 33 years … and I can’t take it with me."

The 1715 "Baron Knoop" was the first Stradivari violin that Fulton bought, tipping off "a kind of madness" of collecting, as Fulton described it to Violinist.com in 2022.

David Fulton plays the "Baron Knoop" at his home in Seattle in 2005. Photo courtesy David Fulton.

The sale of the "Baron Knoop" violin all but dissolves Fulton's legendary collection, which was built over the course of 40 years and topped out with 28 fine violins, cellos and violas as well as dozens of bows. Among them were eight Stradivaris, eight instruments by Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesù, and an assortment of other fine instruments by great makers: Bergonzi, Guadagnini, Amati, Montagnana, Pietro Guarneri and more.

Since 2010 Fulton has been selling off the collection, and in 2022 he published the book The Fulton Collection: A Guided Tour by David Fulton about his journey.

Fulton had kept just four instruments until October 2024, when he gave the "Baron Knoop" violin, a 1898 Voller Brothers copy of the "d'Egville" del Gesu violin, and a 1793 Joseph Guadagnini viola, as well as several fine bows, to his charitable foundation, the David and Amy Fulton Foundation.

He kept one violin: "my ‘Little Petrus’, the 1698 Peter of Mantua Guarneri." This was the first violin Fulton bought, and it's the one he plays. "It began with my ‘Little Petrus’ and is ending with my ‘Little Petrus,'" he said. "There’s been a ton of amazing stuff in between."

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David Burgess

March 11, 2025 at 08:36 PM · Looks like Fulton managed to give inflation a pretty good beating, with that particular fiddle.

Paul Deck

March 12, 2025 at 01:11 AM · If inflation is defined by the Consumer Price Index then Fulton beat the CPI many times over. One would need $7.8 million today to have the same purchasing power as $2.75 million in 1992. On the other hand, $2.75 million invested in the S&P 500 in March 1992 would be worth over $60 million today, assuming an average 10% rate of return and reinvestment of dividends; the SP500 has risen faster than the CPI over the last 30 years. It might appear that $60 million and $23 million are very different numbers, but considering the exponential nature of the calculations and the assumptions that one typically makes, the errors in total return over 30 years may be very large. Therefore even using the SP500 as a standard (instead of the CPI), I would also conclude that Fulton realized an excellent ROI. The less tangible question, of course, is how much enjoyment Fulton received from owning and playing the instrument, and based on his comments as reported here, I'm guessing he enjoyed it very much. Priceless!

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1715 Strad Violin Sells for Record-Breaking $23 Million

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