The Osmium Violin
On March 30, 2023, the world’s most expensive, newly created violin was presented to the public for the first time in Vienna under the strictest security precautions at Post AG.
The Austrian violin maker Edgar Russ, who works in the Italian violin capital Cremona, painstakingly crafted the 550 gram, 59.5 centimeter long violin over a total of 32 months. Around 300 brilliant-cut diamonds, sapphires, rubies and tsavorites were used. The violin was also inlaid with 541 osmium inlays.
The violin maker had already specialized in inlay work at violin making school and the design and implementation of this particular violin presented him with a very special challenge. When making the violin, Russ not only attached importance to the visual radiance of the precious materials, but also to the sound body as such. High-quality woods such as Italian hazel spruce, Bosnian sycamore maple and ebony from Cameroon were used to elicit flawless sounds. The finish was a varnish specially developed for this violin, which was applied in seven wafer-thin layers.
Anyone interested in “The Osmium Violin” can express their interest now for 3.5 million euros upwards.
