A Muscovite found a Stradivarius violin among his aunt's junk

Each of us has probably found interesting artifacts from the past at least once among grandmother's or parents' things. Vintage sewing machines, nostalgic porcelain figurines, broken cuckoo clocks — all these items are interesting as a memory, nothing more. But it also happens that an unexpected find can change a person's life, making him rich, as happened with the Russian Yuri Kurnosov, who accidentally discovered a precious violin in his late aunt's belongings.

Muscovite Yuri Kurnosov was cleaning his late aunt's apartment in the Tula region and found an old battered violin without strings on the mezzanine. To his amazement and joy, the name of the great violin maker Antonio Stradivari was inside the instrument and the year of issue was 1691.

Yuri assumes that the musical instrument made by the Italian master belonged to his uncle, who died 10 years ago. The violin in his family was inherited from generation to generation, but after the death of a relative it was considered lost. The rarity is now in poor condition and needs professional restoration.

In addition, Yuri wants to make sure that the violin is actually original, as hundreds of fakes wander around the world, among which there are very high-quality ones. In the event that the authenticity of the instrument is confirmed, then even without strings and with defects, it can cost several hundred thousand dollars.

The master marked his products with such modest stickers

Antonio Stradivari (1644-1737) was a pupil of another great master — Nicolo Amati. Stradivari made not only violins and violas, but also guitars, cellos and even harps. The genius was extremely productive and to date, 1,150 pieces of instruments that came out of his hands are described in catalogs.

So if you have to deal with some old junk, be on your guard. Who knows, suddenly you will have something valuable in your hands, for example, an ancient Chinese vase that costs millions.