The Beare's Stradivari Price Index

Today we announce the launch of the Beare’s Stradivari Price Index. The first-ever example of its kind, our unique proprietary index tracks the prices and returns of Stradivari violins across recent history.

Over the last two centuries, fine antique stringed instruments have proven to be both a lucrative and safe investment. Among fine luthiers, nobody has caught the imagination of so many and has entered the public consciousness so deeply like Antonio Stradivari. His expertly crafted instruments remain to this day the gold standard of violin making and, in a way, the evolution of Stradivari violin prices is a reflection of the dynamics of the whole antique instruments market.

At Beare’s, we have sought to quantify the investment returns on Stradivari’s violins, to prove not only their historic rise, but also to compare them with other asset classes.

Through our position as the “the acknowledged world authority on stringed instruments” (The Guardian), the Beare’s team has been able to access the largest available set of historic sales data, stretching back over 220 years, including company records from J & A Beare, other historical dealers, as well as auction prices.

From this data, our team has collated several hundred datapoints for transactions going back to 1800. That work alone has yielded a fascinating story of how, when and where these violins have been trading over the decades. However, not all Stradivari violins are equal in terms of condition, quality and provenance and they command different prices as a result. To achieve a more accurate  set of returns, we have isolated repeat transactions for specific instruments that have been sold at least twice, thus generating accurate and real return rates. By combining them into an average annual result, we have been able to calculate the performance of Stradivari violin prices since the early 1980s, thereby creating the Beare’s Stradivari Price Index.

Finally, we engaged the services of KPMG LLP to provide independent limited assurance on the Index. They issued an unqualified opinion over the way it was built and the results it generated.

This world-first initiative in the fine string instrument market will support any investor interested in becoming a Stradivari owner, as well as help guide and inform the wider community of those who own or would like to own a fine antique string instrument. It will also support the work of the newly formed Beare’s Global Advisory Board, the latest stage of Beare’s long-term strategic goal to open the global market to new institutional investors. In turn, its work will support us in significantly expanding the scope of the Beare’s International Violin Society, facilitating the loan of fine instruments to an ever-wider number of rising talents from across the world.