The Lipinski Stradivarius is an antique violin

Violin

The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....

 constructed in 1715 by the Italian luthier

Luthier

A luthier is someone who makes or repairs lutes and other string instruments. In the United States, the term is used interchangeably with a term for the specialty of each maker, such as violinmaker, guitar maker, lute maker, etc...

 Antonio Stradivari

Antonio Stradivari

Antonio Stradivari was an Italian luthier and a crafter of string instruments such as violins, cellos, guitars, violas, and harps. Stradivari is generally considered the most significant artisan in this field. The Latinized form of his surname, Stradivarius, as well as the colloquial, "Strad", is...

 of Cremona

Cremona

Cremona is a city and comune in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po River in the middle of the Pianura Padana . It is the capital of the province of Cremona and the seat of the local City and Province governments...

, during Stradivari's "golden period" between 1700 and 1720. There are fewer than 700 extant Stradivarius instruments in the world today; thus, it is considered one of the most valuable instruments in the world.

The earlier history of The Lipinski is unclear; Italian violinist and composer Giuseppe Tartini

Giuseppe Tartini

Giuseppe Tartini was an Italian baroque composer and violinist.-Biography:Tartini was born in Piran, a town on the peninsula of Istria, in the Republic of Venice to Gianantonio – native of Florence – and Caterina Zangrando, a descendant of one of the oldest aristocratic Piranian families.It...

 is the first known owner. Tartini, who in 1713 experienced a dream in which he allowed the devil to play his violin, heard a beautiful sonata which he was unable to compare with anything he had ever heard. Tartini, two years later, tried to reproduce the sound in his Devil's Trill Sonata

Devil's Trill Sonata

The Violin Sonata in G minor, more famously known as the Devil's Trill Sonata is a famous work for solo violin by Giuseppe Tartini , famous for being extremely technically demanding, even today....

.

Tartini presented the violin to his pupil, Signor Salvini. After hearing the Polish violinist Karol Lipiński

Karol Lipinski

Karol Józef Lipiński was a Polish virtuoso violinist and composer.-Life:Lipiński was born in Radzyń Podlaski. In 1810 he became the first violin and two years later the conductor of the opera orchestra at Lwów . In 1817 he went to Italy in the hope of hearing Niccolò Paganini...

 perform, Salvini asked to see his violin, which he then smashed to pieces. Salvini handed the shocked Lipinski the Stradivarius he received from Tartini.

In 1962, the Lipinski Stradivarius was sold to Rosalind Elsner Anschuetz of New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, for US$

United States dollar

The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....

19,000. Anschuetz gave the violin to her daughter-in-law, Estonia

Estonia

Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...

n violinist Evi Liivak, and upon her death in 1996, Liivak's husband, Richard Anschuetz, took possession of the instrument. After Anschuetz moved to the Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Milwaukee is the largest city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, the 28th most populous city in the United States and 39th most populous region in the United States. It is the county seat of Milwaukee County and is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. According to 2010 census data, the...

 area, the violin was stored in a local bank vault. Upon Anschuetz' death in February 2008, ownership of the violin passed to an anonymous family member who loaned the The Lipinski to Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra

Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra

The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra is an orchestra based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Its primary performing venue is the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts...

 concertmaster

Concertmaster

The concertmaster/mistress is the spalla or leader, of the first violin section of an orchestra. In the UK, the term commonly used is leader...

 Frank Almond.

Provenance

• Giuseppe Tartini
  Giuseppe Tartini
  Giuseppe Tartini was an Italian baroque composer and violinist.-Biography:Tartini was born in Piran, a town on the peninsula of Istria, in the Republic of Venice to Gianantonio – native of Florence – and Caterina Zangrando, a descendant of one of the oldest aristocratic Piranian families.It...
  
  
• Signor Salvini - Milan
• Karol Lipinski
• Richard Weichold, instrument dealer - Dresden, 1861
• Prof. Engelbert Röntgen - Leipzig
• owner not known
• W.E.Hill & Sons, instrument dealers - London, 1899
• Unknown amateur musician - Holland
• Hill & Sons, instrument dealers - London
• owner not known
• Hamma, instrument dealers - Germany
• Unknown
• Wurlitzer
  Wurlitzer
  The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to simply as Wurlitzer, was an American company that produced stringed instruments, woodwinds, brass instruments, theatre organs, band organs, orchestrions, electronic organs, electric pianos and jukeboxes....
  
   - New York, 1922
• owner not known
• Roger Chittolini
• Dr. José Martínez Cañas - Havana, 1941
• Ángel Reyes
  Angel Reyes
  Ángel Reyes Ángel Reyes Ángel Reyes (died November 17, 1988 was a Cuban violinist.In New York City during 1933, Reyes was the principal violinist of the Thirteenth Sound Group of Havana, with which he recorded Julian Carrillo’s Preludio a Colón (Prelude to Christopher Columbus) on the Columbia...
  
   - Havana
• Wurlitzer, instrument dealers - New York, 1960
• Rosalind Elsner Anschuetz/Richard Anschuetz, Evi Liivak - 1962
• Anonymous Anschuetz family member - Milwaukee, 2008

Joseph Joachim

Joseph Joachim

Joseph Joachim was a Hungarian violinist, conductor, composer and teacher. A close collaborator of Johannes Brahms, he is widely regarded as one of the most significant violinists of the 19th century.-Origins:...

, Liivak, Malonzenoff and Persinger are also known to have possessed the Lipinski Stradivarius.