Out of the estimated 550 Antonio Stradivari Stradivarius's still in existence, the only certainty (aside from their nonpareil siren song) is the climbing value that multiplies with each performance (recently, a Strad "La Pucelle" sold for 6 million dollars). So why are these billionaire Strad fetishists loaning their priceless collectibles to baby-faced, myspaced musicians? The current Financial Times supplement How To Spend It delves into the karma of paying it forward. To access the article online, start here, and peruse the September 2008 issue. You can find the article on pages 8/9, 10/11 & 12/13.
btw, if you're not ready to drop 6 million in a bidding war for your own Strad, you can still buy your own hand-crafted string instrument from a workshop in Cremona. Prices start at about 5,000 euro for violins ($7,000 USD), and 10,600 euro for cellos ($15,000 USD), just like buying a horsie!