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A Stradivarius violin  yesterday at Christie´s for 902,000 pounds, the highest price ever paid for a Strad. The violin, owned by the Mendelssohn family,  in 1720 and , because of its colour, it    as the "Red Strad". It    by a "professional musician".

In its years in the Mendelssohn family, it  very little, except by amateurs, but its beautiful tones  by a Japanese violinist before the auction yesterday. "It is in a very good condition because it  in a special case", said Yoshito Ito. "It  after very well."

The violin reached the high price because of its date of 1720 (the height of Stradivari´s Golden Age) when his finest instruments    . Strads    all over the world for their purity and deep and clear sound.