# Theft of a Stradivarius violin !



## BillT (Nov 3, 2013)

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/31/us/a-violinists-triumph-is-ruined-by-thieves.html?hp

This should be free to visit unless you have read more than 10 articles in the NYT this month. Here is an excerpt:

_Mr. Almond drew the graceful, ringing high notes of the finale ( Messiaen's hushed, eerily intense "Quartet for the End of Time") from his prized 1715 Stradivarius violin, producing a tone so intensely focused that the audience in the Wisconsin Lutheran College's 388-seat auditorium sat in awed silence for 20 seconds before applauding.

But the glow of the moment evaporated quickly, once Mr. Almond, 49, stepped into the college art center's parking lot at 10:20 p.m. Monday, his violin carefully swaddled against the subzero temperatures and minus-25-degree wind chill. And as he neared his car, a figure stepped up to him and shot him with a stun gun.

It happened in a matter of seconds: Mr. Almond dropped the violin, the attacker scooped it up and jumped into a late 1980s or early '90s maroon or burgundy minivan, where an accomplice was waiting to speed away. _


----------



## Taggart (Feb 14, 2013)

I caught this one the radio. It sounds like a crime novel I was recently reading - Peter Lovesey's "The Tooth Tattoo". Totally weird.

Presumably the thieves have a market for it unlike the one stolen in London -that one was offered to somebody for £100 - about $165 - by the thieves.

One's sympathies go out to Mr Almond - apart from the tasering, it must have been dreadful to lose his instrument.


----------



## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

Absolutely terrible. I do hope they recover the instrument and catch and punish the thieves. Poor Mr Almond.


----------



## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

Hmm... Molly is a violinist, and Taggart is now raking in the big bucks as a TC moderator...


----------



## SuperTonic (Jun 3, 2010)

Wow, that's awful! I hope he's okay.
I actually knew Frank Almond many year ago. He taught at my university when I was a student there (Texas Christian University). I'm a cellist so he wasn't one of my teachers, but he did sit in on several of my juries along with the other string faculty.

Hopefully they'll catch the people involved and get the instrument back.


----------



## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

There are nasty wealthy people who commission such art thefts to acquire the object, use it badly, and gloat over their private ownership. This sounds like such a commissioned theft. The violin, BTW, was on loan to Mr. Almond from another musician who owns it....


----------



## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

PetrB said:


> There are nasty wealthy people who commission such art thefts to acquire the object, use it badly, and gloat over their private ownership. This sounds like such a commissioned theft. The violin, BTW, was on loan to Mr. Almond from another musician who owns it....


That he was tasered rather than clubbed or shot supports that possibility.


----------



## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Ukko said:


> That he was tasered rather than clubbed or shot supports that possibility.


An inside job? Perhaps Mr. Almond became quite attached to the violin and didn't want to return it...? Just kidding!


----------



## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

As far as I can work out, the only difference between a Stradivarius and a well built modern instrument is that the Strad is way more expensive. Now we see another difference: it turns you into a target in a way a more common instrument would not have.


----------



## Richannes Wrahms (Jan 6, 2014)

If I submerge a violin in a Platinum complex ion solution and pay someone to say it makes the tone superior...

I hope the best for Mr. Almond.


----------



## GGluek (Dec 11, 2011)

Of course, it will be impossible to fence.


----------



## dgee (Sep 26, 2013)

GGluek said:


> Of course, it will be impossible to fence.


I'm my delightfully modest sized corner of the world one of our few contrabassoons was stolen a number of years ago. After some attempts to sell it at local pawn and second hand shops and the like no deal was struck and it was found smashed in a farmers field. The perpetrators were easily identified and brought to justice.

"Cool story bro" I know, but this reminded me of it. There was even aerial footage of the grisly remains on the news!


----------



## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

dgee said:


> I'm my delightfully modest sized corner of the world one of our few contrabassoons was stolen a number of years ago. After some attempts to sell it at local pawn and second hand shops and the like no deal was struck and it was found smashed in a farmers field. The perpetrators were easily identified and brought to justice.
> 
> "Cool story bro" I know, but this reminded me of it. There was even aerial footage of the grisly remains on the news!


Do thieves with style only show up in fiction?


----------



## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

I read on another forum that the violin case (minus violin or bows) has been recovered because it contained a bleeping device. I hope that examination of the violin case gives some leads. What a great pity; Mr Almond had even got a website about this instrument and obviously loved and respected the craftsmanship so much. What a terrible psychological as well as physical shock for him.

There's something about a violin. I was talking to my violin teacher about the violinist on The Titanic who drowned because he went to get his violin, and my teacher snorted & said, 'I don't understand that. It's just a bit of wood.'

But he was wrong. It *so isn't*.


----------



## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Richannes Wrahms said:


> If I submerge a violin in a Platinum complex ion solution and pay someone to say it makes the tone superior...


Dream on, future Sci-Fi author


----------



## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Ingélou said:


> I read on another forum that the violin case (minus violin or bows) has been recovered because it contained a bleeping device. I hope that examination of the violin case gives some leads. What a great pity; Mr Almond had even got a website about this instrument and obviously loved and respected the craftsmanship so much. What a terrible psychological as well as physical shock for him.
> 
> There's something about a violin. I was talking to my violin teacher about the violinist on The Titanic who drowned because he went to get his violin, and my teacher snorted & said, 'I don't understand that. It's just a bit of wood.'
> 
> But he was wrong. It *so isn't*.


Uh, that Violinist on the Titanic drowned because the ship went down without nearly enough lifeboats to hold all passengers and crew. I know, that must be shocking news, but at least the poor man did not die for a fiddle, either bad or Strad


----------



## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Ingélou said:


> I read on another forum that the violin case (minus violin or bows) has been recovered because it contained a bleeping device. I hope that examination of the violin case gives some leads. What a great pity; Mr Almond had even got a website about this instrument and obviously loved and respected the craftsmanship so much. What a terrible psychological as well as physical shock for him.
> 
> There's something about a violin. I was talking to my violin teacher about the violinist on The Titanic who drowned because he went to get his violin, and my teacher snorted & said, 'I don't understand that. It's just a bit of wood.'
> 
> But he was wrong. It *so isn't*.


Ha! Ha! Yeah! Tell that to folks who spend millions to acquire a Guarneri del Gesu or Stradivarius.

Sounds like a comment my brother would make!!!


----------



## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

PetrB said:


> Uh, that Violinist on the Titanic drowned because the ship went down without nearly enough lifeboats to hold all passengers and crew. I know, that must be shocking news, but at least the poor man did not die for a fiddle, either bad or Strad


You're right, of course; but he missed his chance in a lifeboat because of going back, I thought. 
Mr Almond was devoted to the violin and so he must feel its loss, not just as monetary value, but because of its history and 'personality'. I just feel so sorry for him & hope eventually they find it, as they found that other violin that was stolen from the girl in the coffee shop.

_Edit: And there's a more recent example (2012) of someone loving their violin like a person:
'In a new Titanic echo, the violinist aboard the Costa Concordia was identified Wednesday as one of her victims. Sandor Feher, a 38-year-old Hungarian, was working as a musician on the ship in a combo called the Bianco Trio. In the chaos of the sinking Friday night, witnesses said he went back to his cabin to retrieve his beloved violin. He was never seen again.' (New York Daily News)_


----------



## Lunasong (Mar 15, 2011)

http://www.jsonline.com/entertainme...insurance-purposes-b99198990z1-243700331.html
Three suspects have been arrested but the violin has not been recovered.


----------



## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

"The 300-year-old Stradivarius violin that was taken in an armed robbery last month has been found and will be returned to its owner later Thursday, authorities said at a news conference at the Milwaukee Police Department."

http://www.jsonline.com/news/crime/...-in-good-condition-b99199772z1-243934631.html


----------



## Taggart (Feb 14, 2013)

Excellent news. We wish Mr Almond all the best.


----------



## BillT (Nov 3, 2013)

Apparently it may have been recovered:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/07/us/stolen-stradivarius-violin-may-have-been-recovered.html?hp


----------



## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

It is recovered and authenticated. Probably already in Mr. Almond's hands.


----------

