Tucked under André’s chin is his priceless 276 year old Stradivarius Violin
which is at all times accompanied by a body guard. 

Stradivarius violins, sometimes shortened to “Strads”, are regarded as amongst the finest stringed instruments ever created and are highly prized. They were made by an Italian luthier (maker of violins and other stringed instruments), Antonio Stradivari who was born and raised in Cremona, Italy.

“ I am privi­leged to play a Stradivarius, because it has a uniquely beautiful sound. Stradivari built my previous violin in 1667, when he was just a young man and desperately in love. You could hear it. Now I have one made in 1732. A little girl in Korea owns that other one now, because it was actually a little too small for me” commented Rieu.

In 1680 Stradivari set up in the Piazza San Domenico, and his fame as a instrument-maker was soon established. He began to show his originality, and to make alterations in Amati's model. The arching was improved, the degrees of thickness in the wood were more exactly determined, the formation of the scroll altered, and the varnish more highly coloured. It is generally acknowledged that his finest instruments were manufactured from 1698 to 1725, peaking in 1715.

Apart from violins, Stradivari also made harps, guitars, violas, and cellos — more than 1,100 instruments in all, by current estimates. About 650 of these instruments survive today. Until recently, the highest price paid at a public auction for a Stradivarius was £947,500 ($1.6 million) for the "Kreutzer Strad" at Christie's in London, 1998. In April 2005 the "Lady Tennant Violin" was sold in New York for $2.5 million. The Lady Tennant violin was made by Stradivari when he was 55 years old. Other famous Stradivarius instruments are the Davidov Strad, a cello currently owned and played by Yo-Yo Ma, and the Duport Strad cello owned by Mstislav Rostropovich. The Soil Strad of 1714 is owned by virtuoso Itzhak Perlman and many consider it among the finest of all strads.

The world's two largest public collections of Stradivari instruments belong to the King of Spain. The collection consists of two violins, two cellos, and a viola, where they are exhibited in the Music Museum at the former Royal Palace (Palacio Real) in Madrid, and in the U.S Library of Congress.