Higher Ed and guitars

The University of South Dakota buys a $6,000 guitar for $180,000:

What's believed to be the only surviving English cittern - a string instrument similar to the modern guitar - is on its way to South Dakota.

The National Music Museum at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion outbid big names in the business at a Christie's auction in New York this week, paying $180,000 for the prized cittern that dates to 1590 and further padding its reputation as the home of rare musical instruments.

The museum is on the calling list of major auction houses for whenever rare instruments are found, museum director Andre Larson said.

"This instrument is extremely rare, probably the only English cittern from the Renaissance known to survive," Larson said. "We already have an Italian cittern from the same period, but it's one of two or three that have survived."

The English cittern comes from the Barons Nathaniel and Albert Rothschild collection in Vienna. Shakespeare, who died in 1616, often mentioned the cittern in his works.

Despite an initial estimated value of $4,000 to $6,000, the price soared to $180,000 Monday because another museum wanted it: The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

I am not exactly sure how the museum gets its funding, but I have already disclosed that the South Dakota Universities budget has been increased 51% since 2003. It is nice that we can now to pay $180,000 for a $6,000 instrument. We now know that education is not the priority for humanists.