Described as “a very happy-sounding fiddle” by its previous owner, a 1715 Stradivari violin (the “Baron Knoop”) has sold for a world-record price of US$23m to an anonymous buyer.

The previous record (nearly US$16m) was set by the 1721 “Lady Blunt” Stradivari in 2011. The “Joachim-Ma” Stradivari recently sold for $11.25m.

Owned by the American collector David L. Fulton for 33 years, the “Baron Knoop” Stradivari violin’s previous sale price was $2.75 million.

The 1717 “Baron Knoop”. Photo courtesy David L. Fulton

“The Baron Knoop is my absolute favourite among the many great violins I’ve owned,” Fulton said of the instrument. “It was also the favourite of old Baron Knoop’s himself. It is easy to play and I’ve never heard a better sounding violin. Perhaps some are as good, perhaps some have remarkable personalities, but none is better. The tone of the Knoop has a marvellous golden, ‘sunny’ character; it is a very happy-sounding fiddle.”

Baron Johann Knoop (1846–1918) was a collector of dozens of great violins, violas, and cellos at one time or another including four violas representing more than a third of extant Stradivari violas.

Several instruments by master luthiers bear the sobriquet “Baron Knoop”, including...