All predictions exceeded: Einstein’s violin estimated at £300,000 sold for £860,000 at auction on October 8, 2025, with the sale concluded in just ten minutes.
(Source: Cremona Sera)

The violin in question was made by Anton Zunterer in 1894 and bears the label “Anton Zunterer, Munich 1894.” Einstein engraved the word “Lina”—his nickname for the instrument, short for “Violina”—on the back of the violin. He played it up until leaving for the United States in 1932, at which point he gave it to his friend Max von Laue. It was later passed on to Margarete Hommrich, whose great-granddaughter put it up for sale.

The Zunterer violin, whose final price included a 26.4% buyer’s premium—bringing the total to over £1 million—follows another significant sale: the other violin owned by Einstein, made in 1933 by luthier Oscar Steger, was auctioned in 2018 for $516,000, triple its initial estimate, just as happened with the instrument sold yesterday.

Photo: The Strad