Stradivarius test is music to museum's ears

LONDON, England -- Doubts about the true pedigree of a 284-year-old instrument long acclaimed as the finest example of a Stradivarius violin have seemingly been put to rest.

An examination of the instrument concluded that the instrument residing in a glass case in Oxford's Ashmolean Museum was made during the productive years of Italian craftsman Antonio Stradivari -- making it the most valuable violin in the world.

If it were for sale -- and the museum insists it is not -- the instrument would have a price tag of about £10 million.

The study by a team of dendochronologists -- who use tree ring patterns to date wooden artifacts -- ascertained the instrument was created in 1716.

The results dispel the claims of doubters who said the instrument was a fake made in the year of Stradivari's death in 1737.

For 150 years, a war of words has been waged over whether the instrument -- a gift to the museum in 1939 -- was the genuine Italian article or a 19th century imposter made by French violin-maker Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume.

Assistant keeper of the Ashmolean Museum, Dr Jon Whiteley, said the result of the tests, carried out by violin experts John Topham and Derek McCormick of Belfast, proved the instrument was, "beyond reasonable doubt", a genuine Stradivarius.

"Speaking as an objective scholar with no axe to grind, the evidence is pretty conclusive and would stand up in a court of law as the genuine article," Dr Whiteley told CNN.com.

No-one knows exactly when the instrument was last played but in the latter 19th century it was praised as possessing a "marvellous combination of sweetness and sound", according to Dr Whiteley.

The museum has no plans to part with its most valuable asset.

"It will always remain a part of our permanent collection, as was intended when (British) violin firm W.E. Hill and Sons donated it to the museum," said Dr Whiteley.

Stradivarius sells for 1.3 million at auction
May 5, 2000

Smithsonian Institute - the Stradivarius

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