The violin gifted to Einstein by Oscar Steger was introduced earlier in 2021. Today, let's talk about Einstein's first violin, which recently sold for 860000 pounds at an auction.

Einstein's first violin, which was once hidden to avoid the Nazis, sold for about three times the estimated price, and is likely to set an auction record for non professional violinists and non Stradivarius violins.

On October 8, 2025, the violin was sold for £ 860000 at the Dominic Winter auction house in Cirencester, UK, with an estimated price of £ 200000 to £ 300000. After adding commission, the total price exceeds £ 1000000. Previously recorded as the violin of Wallace Hartley, the captain of the Titanic Orchestra, sold for £ 900000 in 2013. Auctioneer Chris Albury stated that the back of this violin is engraved with "Lina", which is the name Einstein gave to his violin. When the qin was delivered, the bridge and column had become loose. After repair, it was confirmed that the sound was good, and the auction house recorded a performance clip.

This violin was made by Anton Zunter in Munich in 1894 and purchased by Einstein during his teenage years when he was about 15 or 16 years old and about to leave Germany to study in neutral Switzerland. This qin accompanied him through his early adulthood, including the publication of the Special Theory of Relativity in 1905 and the completion of the General Theory of Relativity in 1915. At the end of 1932, the Nazis came to power, and Einstein went to the United States instead. He entrusted this piano, bicycle, and a philosophy book to his physicist friend Max von Laue. Max von Laue is a Nobel laureate. Twenty years later, he handed over these items to Einstein's confidante Margarete Hommrich, who lived in Braunschweig, Germany. These items were kept at her home for 70 years until her death, when her family decided to auction them off. Before the auction, Dr. Paul Wingfield, the research director of the Music Department at Trinity College, Cambridge, conducted verification. He recently created the musical 'Einstein's Violin', which tells the story of Einstein's musical career. Paul Wingfield has been collecting Einstein's music related records for many years, confirming the authenticity of the violin through manuscripts, travel materials, and testimonies.