The world record for a musical instrument sold at auction could come under threat in May, when Christie’s offers a rare Stradivari violin for sale in New York.

The violin, known as “The Hammer” after the 19th century Swedish collector Christian Hammer, has been given a pre-sale estimate of between 1.5 million and 2.5 million dollars.

The existing record price for any musical instrument at auction is the 2.03 million dollars paid for another Stradivari violin, “The Lady Tennant” — sold at Christie’s in New York in April last year.

“The Hammer” was made in 1707, during what experts refer to as its maker’s golden period between 1700 and 1720.

Currently in private hands, the violin was, until recently, on loan to Kyoko Takezawa, a violin soloist who lives in New York.

Antonio Stradivari was born in 1644, and established his shop in Cremona, Italy, where he remained active until his death in 1737.

Stradivari also made harps, guitars, violas, and cellos — more than 1,100 instruments in all, of which around 650 survive today.

Posted: 02|27|06 at 11:04 am. Filed under: US News.