Classical Guitar Plays to Record Price at Christie's

Hermann Hauser classical guitar, $93,210.

Violin by Giovanni Francesco-Pressenda, $164,300.

NEW YORK CITY - Christie's April 30 sale of fine musical instruments totaled nearly $1 million, with 76 percent sold by lot and 79 percent sold by dollar value in the 128-lot auction.

The sale saw a world auction record being set for any classical guitar when a Hermann Hauser classical guitar from 1936 sold for $93,210. This result doubled the previous world auction record for a Hauser guitar.

Top lot in the sale was an Italian violin by Giovanni Francesco-Pressenda, Turin, 1824, that went to an American private buyer for $164,300. In addition, a Seventeenth Century Italian violin by Hieronymus Amati II, Cremona, 1671, went to the American trade for $83,650.

All sold prices include a 191/2 percent buyer's premium.