What makes a person invest tens of millions of dollars in dozens of fine violins, violas and cellos?
"Looking back at it, frankly, it s a kind of madness that seizes you," violin collector David Fulton told me in an interview last month. "When I bought my first good violin, I thought that was going to be it. And in fact it was, for 10 years or so. But always had the idea in the back of my mind, Gee, wouldn t it be nice to have a Strad, if I was able to do that. "
A co-founder of Fox Software who eventually served as Microsoft’s Vice President for Database Products until his retirement in 1994, Fulton collected 28 of the finest violins, cellos and violas in existence over a period of 40 years, as well as dozens of bows. Among them were eight Stradivaris, eight instruments by Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesù, and an assortment of other fine instruments by great makers: Bergonzi, Guadagnini, Amati, Montagnana, Pietro Guarneri and more.
Then, over a period of 12