An auction of Isaac Stern items

About 200 items from the personal collection of the late Isaac Stern will be put up for auction May 1-8 by Tarisio Auctions, the New York-based Internet auctioneer of fine and rare violins, violas, cellos and bows.

Among the items: a circa-1850 violin by J.B. Villaume (estimated at $70,000 to $100,000); a pair of violins made as exact copies of Stern’s Del Gesu instruments, made by Sam Zygmuntowicz, one of the esteemed contemporary violin makers; a collection of about 30 bows, several of them owned or made for pioneering 20th century Belgian violinist Eugene Ysaye; a 19th century rosewood bow case presented by Stern to his friend, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas; an Art Deco brass cigar humidor; and Stern’s Hamburg Steinway grand piano model “C,” which he owned for more than 40 years.

The auction, to be held online, will include an additional 200 lots not from Stern’s collection but of related interest, such as a violin made by Antonio Stradivarius in 1687, estimated at $900,000 to $1.2 million.

The Web catalog is available online at www.tarisio.com. A color catalog is available for $40 by calling (800) 814-4188.

-- Daniel Cariaga