Investigating the potential of investing in fine stringed instruments as an alternative investment asset

Often seen as a passion project or part of a philanthropic venture, rare and fine stringed instruments offer an exciting option to diversify one’s investment portfolio while providing an opportunity for an exceptional long-term investment. Though, historically rare violins have not been widely recognized as assets for investment, this category is gaining interest due to its steady increase in value, a lively international market and a finite and diminishing supply. This study demonstrates that fine stringed instruments offer a steady increase of approximately 3,7-6,9% return per annum with a dramatic percentage increase since the 80’s.
In this thesis, the stringed instrument public auction and private dealer markets are reviewed, the price dynamics are studied, and some fundamental intra market specific limitations are tackled in order to observe the true underlying returns of this asset. In order to build solid conclusions, the largest fine stringed instrument auction database has been developed encompassing the period from 1850 until today, although for the analysis a focus is put in the period from the 1980’s until today, as it is when the demand and, consequently the market for violins boomed.