I don't think the Easter Bunny will be leaving me a viola this year, but who knows?

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/ar.....struments/

No musical instrument has sold for $45 million, but Sotheby’s announced today that they are starting off the sealed bidding this spring for the “Macdonald” viola by Antonio Stradivari at that price.

Stradivarius string instruments are known in the classical music world as some of the highest caliber. Stradivari made 600 violins and 50 cellos in in his lifetime, but only 10 violas are still around today. The “Macdonald” of 1719 — named after its owner in the 1820s, 3rd Baron Macdonald — is one of only two Stradivarius violas in the hands of private owners, according to a press release from Sotheby’s. The Library of Congress in Washington D.C. owns the other one.

The “Macdonald” is currently owned by the family of Peter Shidlof, a member of the Amadeus Quartet. Shidlof, who died in 1987, purchased the viola in 1964.

Sotheby’s is expecting the instrument to sell for more than $45 million, which is quite a feat when the current world record for the sale of a musical instrument stands at $15.9 mil. That was for the “Lady Blunt” Stadivarius violin, which was sold in June 2011 by the Nippon Music Foundation to help fund earthquake and tsunami relief efforts in Japan.

The article continues on with a nice discussion of why old instruments can be so valuable and of "working" instruments vs "specimens."