Toronto Symphony member recovers lost violin

[Brian]

Q. How do you keep your violin from getting stolen?
A. Put it in a viola case.

[DavidRoss]

Q. How do you keep your violin from getting stolen?
A. Put it in a viola case.

[Szykneij]

A year to the day of the op of this thread, another similar story is in the news --

Christmas came early for a Boston music student who was reunited with the $170,000 violin she forgot in the overhead compartment of a regional commuter bus she rode last week, police said.

http://news.yahoo.com/boston-student-united-170-000-violin-165321098.html

What is it with violinists losing their instruments? I've never heard of a clarinetist doing something like!

[zamyrabyrd]

Pianists don't lose pianos either.

ZB

[Szykneij]

Pianists don't lose pianos either.

ZB

... at least not in the overhead compartment of a Greyhound.

[North Star]

or he left it on the roof of his car and drove off--he's not sure which.

As to why violins are reported lost or stolen more often than other instruments, they are obviously easier to steal or lose than larger instruments, can be a lot more expensive (thus any violin case is more attractive to a thief than a recorder case...), and, on the other hand, because they are so often so valuable, the thefts and losings are reported more likely. It would make a fun anecdote if someone tried to steal a contrabass in a subway.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

A far more distressing tale has been doing the newsrounds lately.


http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/01/04/paypal_destroys_violin/

[North Star]

A far more distressing tale has been doing the newsrounds lately.


http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/01/04/paypal_destroys_violin/

Unbelievable. They ordered the buyer to destroy a violin, because "the buyer disputed the label." In the words of a genius: Pffffffffft

UPDATE: I neglected to mention in the original post that the violin was examined and authenticated by a top luthier prior to its sale.

And PayPal didn't even request the third party evaluations mentioned in the Dispute Resolution terms. Amazing stuff. People have been hanged for lesser reasons.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

It is incredible, isn't it? The main reason being, it is forbidden in the US to ship counterfeit goods...

[North Star]

It is incredible, isn't it? The main reason being, it is forbidden in the US to ship counterfeit goods...

I can understand that, but there was no evidence whatsoever of this being the case... It seems more likely that the buyer needed money quickly.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

I can understand that, but there was no evidence whatsoever of this being the case... It seems more likely that the buyer needed money quickly.

No, there was no evidence. That buyer is criminal.

[mahler10th]

I heard a radio interview with the violinist that gave a few more details that might affect your opinion.  The person who eventually returned the violin called the violinist when his wife first noticed the case in the bag lady's shopping cart, but before he had actually recovered it, and was then told of the $1000 reward.  So the newspaper story may not be quite accurate when it says the person was unaware of the reward until he returned the instrument.  According to the radio interview, the finder then located the bag lady and, after a prolonged negotiation, eventually persuaded to part with the violin for $35 plus a silver ring.  It didn't sound like she was planning on selling it, but had just added it to the assortment of items she habitually carried around in a shopping cart.
What was not made clear was whether he told the bag lady who the violin belonged to, and that there was a reward for its return.  That's where I think the ethical questions arise.  I have no problem with the violinist giving the reward to who ever happened to be the one to get the intrument back into his hands.  But I'm not sure if the "Good Samaritan" behaved ethically, if he didn't let the bag lady know the full significance of the instrument  and the potential benefit she could realize by returning it.  Of course, if she was aware and insisted on keeping the violin anyway, that's a different matter.  (I wonder what the law is in that case?)
Anyway, not to get too heavy on this.  I just thought it was a cute story.

Shrewd work by the rewardee.  There is nothing unethical about it in a Capitalist society.  Banks do similar things all the time.  The rewardee was rightly rewarded for using his nut to get $1,000, and the Baglady got $35 and a ring for carrying it around.  Like has been said, it was wins all round.

[Szykneij]

No, there was no evidence. That buyer is criminial.

Unbelievable!

I'd be interested in seeing the original listing. Most sellers will describe the instrument as "labeled Stainer" or "labeled Amati" without making any definitive claims about the actual origin. Almost every violin produced is a copy of a famous maker's style, so labeling  a violin as "Stradivarious" (usually including the word "faciebat") is not an attempt to deceive.

In the world of philately, postage stamps receive an opinion by expertizers as to their authenticity because even experts disagree. Stamps deemed as fakes are often not destroyed but marked as such to be used as reference items.

Related to instrument destruction, my first string bass was a "U.S. Army Model" Kay bass that my teacher found in the pit of an abandoned Broadway theater. Jazzers loved these basses, but they were hard to come by because when the army bought new instruments, they dumped all the old ones out in a field and crushed them with a bulldozer. Somehow, mine escaped this fate. Wish I still had it.

[Szykneij]

Not lost, just broken.

$20 Million Stradivarius Cello broken in accident. I can't quite figure out exactly what was damaged from the story description.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/07/20-million-stradivarius-cello-broken_n_1497578.html

[Herman]

South Korean violinist Min-Jin Kym was eating inside the sandwich shop outside Euston station on Nov. 29 when she noticed that her black violin case — which contained the 300-year-old Stradivarius as well as two expensive bows — was missing, police said.

The violin, made in 1696, is one of only around 400 in the world. It was stolen with a Peccatte bow, valued at 62,000 pounds, and another bow worth more than 5,000 pounds.

[...]

South Korea-born Kym began playing the violin aged six. She made her international debut with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra when she was 13. Since then, she has performed with some of the world's leading orchestras.

Maybe it's just me, but I've never remotely heard of Min Jin Kym, and yet she's walking about town with almost two million worth of fiddle gear.

What's going on here?

[North Star]

Maybe it's just me, but I've never remotely heard of Min Jin Kym, and yet she's walking about town with almost two million worth of fiddle gear.

What's going on here?

Well, there are over 600 Stradivaris, and some A & G Guarneris, and other violins, and even with a lot of those locked up, there are a lot more of precious violins than famous violinists.

[Karl Henning]

NEWARK, N.J. | Wed May 7, 2008 4:17am IST
(Reuters) - A Grammy-nominated violinist who left his $4 million, 285-year-old Stradivarius in a taxi repaid the driver who returned it with a free concert at an airport taxi stand on Tuesday.

Philippe Quint, 34, left his 1723 Ex-Keisewetter violin in Mohammed Khalil's taxi when returning from Newark Liberty Airport in New Jersey at 3 a.m. last week and Khalil later returned it without knowing its value, Quint said.

"I was retrieving my bags from the trunk ... and when I turned back I saw the cab already very much in the distance," Quint said, immediately realizing the violin was in the back seat of the car.

After frantically reporting the loss to the taxi commission, reviewing photos of licensed taxi drivers and informing police, Quint went back to the taxi stand hoping the driver would reappear.

Then he received a call from the Port Authority, which operates the airport, and was told Khalil had returned with the prize to the taxi stand, where they soon met up.

"It was only five or six hours from the time when it left to the time that I got it but it felt like six years of my life," Quint said.

Quint gave Khalil and his colleagues a 30-minute recital on Tuesday -- although using a less valuable violin.

Quint said the Stradivarius -- the name for instruments made by famed Italian Antonio Stradivari -- was appraised at $4 million in part because it was one of only three Ex-Keisewetter violins to exist. He has it on loan from two U.S. philanthropists.

Stradivari's instruments are praised for their sound, which projects clearly with rich tones, and are considered easy to play as they are highly responsive to a musician's touch.

He made about 1,100 in his lifetime, most of them violins, and about 650 survive today.

When Quint next performs on the "Strad" in New York on Sept. 23, he will provide tickets for Khalil and his family.

Parenthetically, I may know of Quint solely because he recorded the Wm Schuman[/b concerto for Naxos.

[Szykneij]

Stolen Stradivarius recovered in Milwaukee




MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN - FEBRUARY 6: The 300-year-old Stradivarius violin that was taken from the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra's concertmaster in an armed robbery last week sits on a counter February 6, 2014 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Accodring to reports, the violin was recovered in the attic of a Milwaukee home. (Photo by Tom Lynn/getty Images)



http://www.aol.com/article/2014/02/06/stolen-stradivarius-recovered-in-milwaukee/20824767/?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmaing12%7Cdl24%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D439872

[Szykneij]

Stolen Stradivarius recovered in Milwaukee




MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN - FEBRUARY 6: The 300-year-old Stradivarius violin that was taken from the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra's concertmaster in an armed robbery last week sits on a counter February 6, 2014 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Accodring to reports, the violin was recovered in the attic of a Milwaukee home. (Photo by Tom Lynn/getty Images)



http://www.aol.com/article/2014/02/06/stolen-stradivarius-recovered-in-milwaukee/20824767/?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmaing12%7Cdl24%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D439872

... and, finally, justice is served!

MILWAUKEE (AP) -- The man accused of masterminding the theft of a 300-year-old, $5 million Stradivarius violin that was snatched from a musician in Milwaukee was sentenced Monday to seven years in prison.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/10/300-year-old-violin-stolen_n_6133844.html?cps=gravity

[Szykneij]

This is an old thread, but it contains a lot of posts about missing or stolen Stradivarius violins. This new story is horrific!

Father and Daughter Tortured and Killed Over Valuable Stradivarius Violins, Prosecutor Says


https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/father-and-daughter-tortured-and-killed-over-valuable-stradivarius-violins-prosecutor-says/ar-AAQA9KJ?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531