Russian pays record price for violin

A Russian businessman paid a record price Wednesday for an 18th century violin that had not been played in public for more than 70 years.

Maxim Viktorov, who bought the instrument by master violin maker Giuseppe Guarneri, paid “well in excess” of the previous world auction record for a musical instrument of $3.54 million, auction house Sotheby’s said.

It said Viktorov bought the violin privately, and did not disclose the price.

Viktorov promised that the instrument, dating from 1741 and at one stage owned for 15 years by Belgian composer Henri Vieuxtemps, would now be played regularly in public.