An outstanding copy of Giuseppe Guarneri's circa 1731 Gibson, Huberman "del Gesu" violin has set a new auction record for an instrument by a living maker.

The violin was made for Ruggiero Ricci, who described it as 'the sort of fiddle you can't put down'

The violin, made by US luthiers Joseph Curtin and Gregg Alf in 1985, sold for $132,000 through specialist Tarisio in New York on October 17. The previous record was held by a violin by Sam Zygmuntowicz, which sold at Tarisio in May 2003 for $130,000.

Guiseppe Guarneri (1698-1744) was one of the chief rivals of Antonio Stradivari in Cremona, and has been called the finest violin maker of the Amati line. His instruments are often referred to as "Josephs" or "del Gesus", which means "of Jesus", due to his labels incorporating the nomina sacra and a crucifix.

In December, Tarisio will attempt to sell the Stradivarius violin stolen from international soloist Min-Jin Kym for £2m ($3.2m).

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