Can't make money from property or shares? Try violins

Throughout the 1920s stock market crash, the Second World War and the oil crises of the 1970s, there was one stock which remained steady – fine violins.

As global financial uncertainty strikes again, investors shy of the FTSE and put off by property may wish to consider putting their money into a Stradivarius instead.

This is the hope of the Fine Violins Fund, a syndicate set up by the renowned violin restorer and trader Florian Leonhard, which is hoping to attract investment for about 50 pre-19th century Italian violins.

The project aims to loan the instruments to up-and- coming performers – old violins are worth more when they are in use, and being linked to the career of a musical star can also increase their value.

The cellist Julian Lloyd Webber, the historian and philosopher Theodore Zeldin and the principal of the Royal Academy of Music, Professor Sir Curtis Price, all sit on the advisory board of the investment vehicle, the first fund investing in fine violins, with a target of €60m (£46m) in commitments. The fund has already attracted pledged investment of €25m and hopes to be running by the early summer.

Mr Leonhard, who has 25 years' experience of restoring and valuing violins, has decided to concentrate on instruments crafted in Italy in the 17th and 18th centuries. Pre-19th century Italian violins are generally considered the finest in the world, because they hail from a period when Italy, thanks to its temperate climate, became the first country to stage large outdoor classical music concerts.

While Germany, France and Britain continued to produce violins that made the sweeter, baroque sound suited to intimate court music, in Italy increasingly popular amphitheatre venues called for greater projection. So Antonio Stradivari and his fellow violin makers produced instruments with fuller arching. Other "luthiers" from Italy's golden age of violin-making, which ended in about 1750, include the Guarneri family, Carlo Bergonzi and Giovanni Battista Guadagnini.

Crucial to the fund's success is finding the right performers for the instruments. Mr Leonhard is working with the juries of major international violin competitions to identify suitable candidates, including the Yehudi Menuhin competition in Cardiff, the Benjamin Britten contest in London, the Queen Elizabeth prize in Brussels, and the Paganini and Tchaikovsky competitions in Moscow. "A violin fund seems a bit strange to people who have nothing to do with violins. We need to first educate our clients," Mr Leonhard said. "Over the past 100 years, the violin market has just sailed through; while other things crashed they stayed stable."

He added that violins, unlike a house, could be taken into another country, and are a better investment than paintings, because they are kept in use rather than being hidden away in bank vaults. "Using them if anything improves them, because the constant vibrations make the wood more resonant," he said.

Mr Leonhard is confident that the violin fund can achieve a net return of from 12 to 15 per cent.

Alternative investments

Wine

In recent years there have been several vintage wine harvests, making it a good time for investors. The Wine Investment Fund, set up by Peter Lunzer, holds and sells for maximum returns, based on the principle that certain fine wines in limited supply increase in quick, short bursts over time.

Stamps

Leading dealer Stanley Gibbons offers an investment service, based on its 150 years experience of philately. Salomon Brothers rated stamps among the top four investments of the 20th century, giving an average annual return of 10 per cent. Autographs and rare coins also offer investment opportunities.

Vintage cars

Cars are not usually a good investment but vintage cars can make money, particularly if they are rare and have low mileage. It is essential to have a good understanding of the market and seek advice from specialist dealers.