One of the rarest and priciest violins in the world was hidden away in a closet for decades, but it is now up for auction at Christie's, with bidding starting Friday.
"Our presale estimate on this is $7.5 million to $10 million," said Kerry Keane, head musical instrument specialist at Christie's, which is hosting the sealed-bid auction. Bidding will go on until June 12.
Part of why this violin is so valuable is its provenance. The violin was made in 1731 by Antonio Stradivari, considered to be the greatest violin maker ever. His 600 surviving violins are highly sought by collectors, giving them multimillion-dollar price tags.
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The violin up for auction is known as the Kreutzer Stradivarius, named for its first-known owner, Rodolphe Kreutzer.
If you learned to play the violin, you can likely thank Kreutzer, a French violinist and teacher, who penned the 42 Etudes, a commonly used foundation for teaching students to play the instrument. Jack Benny often used a Kreutzer etude in his violin schticks.