Yesterday, my son arrived to his viola lesson with the principal violist of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (we're very lucky to have secured him as a teacher) to find that his teacher had brought in 4 additional violas for some reason.

Teacher: "Do you want to try this one?"
Son: "Sure."

My son tried it out, had a few issues with the scale he attempted because it was a 16" viola instead of the 15.5" one he plays. The intervals are slightly larger.

T: "What do you think?"
S: "Well, it's ok, hard to tell if the sound is like that because of the viola or because it's just larger."
T: "How much do you think this instrument costs?"
S: "No idea?"
T: "1.5"
Mom: "150? or 1500?"

Nope. As in one and a half million dollars... and he let a 15yo try it out.

It doesn't belong to his teacher either, just on loan to the symphony or something.

I think they were in the $40-80K range. He thinks that in 20-30 years these will be the instruments that are sought after because the quality of a modern instrument with modern techniques and material is so much better than the old ones. The Strads are all starting to fall apart because instruments have a lifetime.