The Cholmondeley ( ) is the name of a

Stradivarius A Stradivarius is one of the string instruments, such as violins, violas, cellos, and guitars, crafted by members of the Stradivari family, particularly Antonio Stradivari (Latin: Antonius Stradivarius), in Cremona, Italy, during the late 17th ...

cello (violin) that was made in

Cremona Cremona ( , , ; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po (river), Po river in the middle of the Po Valley. It is the capital of the province of Cremona and the seat of the local city a ...

, Italy, by

Antonio Stradivari Antonio Stradivari (, also , ; – 18 December 1737) was an Italian luthier and a craftsman of string instruments such as violins, cellos, guitars, violas and harps. The Latinisation of names, Latinized form of his surname, ''Stradivarius'', a ...

around 1698. It holds the record as the world's most valuable cello. At an auction at

Sotheby's Sotheby's ( ) is a British-founded multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine art, fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, an ...

in London on 22 June 1988 it fetched the highest

auction An auction is usually a process of Trade, buying and selling Good (economics), goods or Service (economics), services by offering them up for Bidding, bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from th ...

price ever at £682,000 ( 1.2 million). Purchase of the Cholmondeley surpassed the previous record for an instrument at auction (also in 1988) of $890,000, which was for Stradavarius violin named

Marie Hall Marie Pauline Hall (8 April 1884 – 11 November 1956) was an English violinist. Biography Hall was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. She received her first lessons from her father, who was a harpist in the orchestra of the Carl Rosa O ...

. Prior to the Marie Hall, the

Bonjour Stradivarius The Bonjour Stradivari cello was made by famous luthier Antonio Stradivari 1692. The instrument is named after the amateur 19th-century Parisian cellist Abel Bonjour. On the death of Bonjour sometime after 1885 the cello passed via Fridolin Ham ...

was the record holder at $393,000, purchased in 1994 by Robert Cohen.

References

Stradivari cellos {{cello-stub