VIOLINSANITY
Car thief winds up with rare $900,000 treasure
Bring it Bach!
A thief in California stole a rare 18th-century violin said to be worth up to $900,000 — and the culprit may not even know it, according to a report.
The 1710 curly maple and alpinespruce instrument — built by Hieronymus Amati II, one of the most famous violin makers in history — was inside art dealer Rowland Weinstein’s parked Tesla, which was stolen from his Los Feliz, Calif., residence on Dec. 8, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The art dealer said he was moving the violin from a previous location that he felt was not secure enough when he accidentally left the car unlocked momentarily while he went into his house. When he returned from inside, the ride and the prized possession were gone.
FBI spokesperson Laura Eimiller told the newspaper that the agency has no leads yet.
According to the LAPD, a car thief is believed to have been in the area,” Eimiller said. “It’s possible that the person who stole it may not have known the value and discovered it [later] and may try to pawn it or sell it overseas. So it’s critical to get the information to the public so that hopefully somebody who received it, or is offered it, can identify it and return it.”
Weinstein is offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to the violin’s safe return.
“I’m responsible for a piece of history and that piece of history got away from me,” Weinstein said. “It’s so fragile. My biggest fear is that someone who doesn’t know what they have will put it in the wrong environment and it will get damaged or destroyed.”
Weinstein bought the violin in October 2013 for $507,436 from online auction house Tarisio. The director of the auction house says the instrument’s worth would probably appreciate to between $700,000 and $900,000 in the current market.
The gallery owner said he does not play the violin, but lets musician friends and professionals play the instrument, which is in excellent condition.
Weinstein has been targeted by thieves before.
In 2011 a 1965 Pablo Picasso pencil drawing, “Tête de Femme,” was stolen from his San Francisco gallery by a Hoboken man who casually walked out of the venue with the artwork tucked under a newspaper. The thief was later busted and the piece was recovered.
Experts say there is reason to be optimistic about the violin, too.
“This doesn’t appear to be a planned theft, it seems to be a crime of opportunity based on the facts, so it’s potentially still in Los Angeles, possibly in someone’s home,” Berkeley Law lecturer and violin maker Carla Shapreau said.
“When a theft is planned, there’s often a customer for it. When someone sees a car unlocked, they’re more likely to pass [an item found inside] locally. But it would be difficult to transfer this in the stream of commerce, especially if it’s well publicized.”