FOUR MONTHS AGO, Hong Kong-based violin restorer Sandra Wagstaff made one of the scariest decisions of her life.
She had just a few hours to decide whether or not to buy her first ever Stradivarius violin and, because of a sudden acceleration in deadline when the owner decided he wanted to sell in the 2000 tax year, she didn't have all the investors she hoped for on board.
Wagstaff had sold Strads before, but always on commission, as an agent for other people. This was the first time she and her husband Mike had decided to risk their own money.
And it was a sizeable risk. The violin is now for sale for US$2.2 million (HK$17 million). All this went on an instrument that, in the comparatively dim light of a Zurich hotel room, had seemed fine enough, but which, unusually for a Stradivarius violin, was virtually unknown. 'We couldn't really afford to buy it - but we couldn't resist it,' Wagstaff says.
No one knows how many instruments were made by Antonio Stradivari during his long lifetime. Probably 1,000, but many must have been destroyed in the late 18th century when northern Italy was part of the Austrian empire, few people played violins and the instruments were left uncared for until a dealer 50 years later started buying them wholesale and exporting them by the cartload to Paris.
About 450 Stradivarius violins remain, as well as seven violas, 20 cellos, a couple of harps and even a guitar or two. They are in the hands of collectors, dealers, and also, most famously, pass between celebrated performers.