A rare Stradivarius violin that belonged to a Russian-American virtuoso and utilized in the Wizard of Oz soundtrack was sold at the staggering price of $15.3 million, barely below the record for such an instrument, at an auction in New York according to auction firm Tarisio.

The violin, built in 1714 by legendary craftsman Antonio Stradivari, belonged to virtuoso Toscha Seidel, who probably played it when tutoring his famous student Albert Einstein as well as on the score for the 1939 Hollywood classic.

"This violin has set side by side with the great mathematician scientist as they played quartets in Albert's home in Princeton, New Jersey," said Jason Price, founder of Tarisio, which specializes in stringed instruments.

In 1933, Seidel, who came to the United States in the 1930s, and Einstein, who fled the Nazis in Europe, performed a performance in New York in support of fleeing German Jewish scientists.
There are around 600 instruments known now from the thousands produced by Stradivari.

"Of those, many are in museums, many are in foundations and are in situations where they won't be sold," Price said.

"There's a select few which are known as the Golden Period examples, which is approximately between 1710 and 1720," he said.

"And these, for the most part, are those which are most desired and most highly valued."

The violin had previously belonged to the Munetsugu collection in Japan. Tarisio did not reveal who the buyer was.

The auction record for a Stradivarius was achieved in 2011, when a violin christened "Lady Blunt," thought to have belonged to Lady Anne Blunt, granddaughter of poet Lord Byron, was sold for $15.9 in London. Another Stradivarius with a minimum auction price of $45 million did not sell in 2014.

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