# Who left their Stradivarius on the train?



## Grizzled Ghost (Jun 10, 2015)

I saw this in the news this morning:
_BERLIN (Reuters) - An American violinist who left her $2.6 million 1727 Stradivarius in the luggage rack on a regional train in western Germany was "more than relieved", police said, when officers retrieved it one minute before it left the station.

The woman, who police described as being in her 20s, left the 'General Dupont Grumiaux' edition of the famous violin brand on a train traveling on Tuesday from Mannheim to Saarbruecken in western Germany, where she alighted.

Realizing her error after leaving the train, she alerted the police. One minute before the train heading back to Mannheim departed, police found the violin in the last section of the carriage concerned and returned it to the woman.

After checking that the instrument was not damaged, she was "more than relieved", police said in a statement.
_
−−−
Wikipedia says the ex-General Dupont is on loan to Jennifer Koh, who is an American but not in her twenties.

But if not Koh, then who left the violin? Do we have enough clues and/or smarts to figure it out? Or is it none of our business?


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## Jeff W (Jan 20, 2014)

It would seem that the article is false, if this one is to be believed:

http://www.theviolinchannel.com/dup...instrument-left-on-german-train-jennifer-koh/



> "The current owner of the "General Dupont Grumiaux Stradivarius" violin wishes to clarify that the violin is currently not in Germany, nor on loan to the unnamed American violinist who misplaced her violin on a German train," Ziv Arazi from Rare Violins of New York has told The Violin Channel.


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

Shocking! How could anyone be so careless with a priceless violin?


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## Grizzled Ghost (Jun 10, 2015)

The fact that the train was traveling to Saarbrucken coupled with the fact that Jennifer Koh was playing in Saarbrucken suggests that the violinist in question was Jennifer Koh. Also the fact that the violin was identified as the General Dupont ex-Grumiaux points to Jennifer Koh, since that's the violin that Ms. Koh plays or used to play.

But the actual identity of the violin is less clear. First, as per Jeff W's link, the owner of the General Dupont ex-Grumiaux' Stradivarius says it wasn't in Germany.

Second (also from the linked article):
_Jennifer's press representative, Lisa Jaehnig of Shuman Associates, has today confirmed that Jennifer does not currently play the 'General Dupont ex-Grumiaux' Stradivarius but declined any further comment_

So let's suppose that Ms. Koh was the forgetful violinist, but a different violin was misplaced. Such a scenario would be consistent with what both the mystery owner and Ms Koh's press representative said (and didn't say). The police would have to be wrong about her age, but that's an easy casual mistake to make.

But how could the police be so wrong about the violin? The police clearly identified the violin as the General Dupont ex-Grumiaux' Stradivarius. They wouldn't just make that stuff up, would they? Maybe they could have looked up the identity of the violin online (assuming the violinist was in fact Ms. Koh) but then gotten the wrong information from wikipedia or wherever. But why would the police bother to look online to try to determine the exact identity of the violin? Most likely they said the violin was the General Dupont because that's what they were told by the violinist.

So maybe the misplaced violin really was in fact the General Dupont, but the owner and Ms. Koh do not want to admit it for some reason − such as fear of facilitating future theft, insurance issues, or just bad publicity. Also, maybe Ms. Koh is just trying to save face and get past this embarrassing incident as quickly as possible.

But I think we can conclude that either the German police are behaving strangely or Ms. Koh and the mystery owner are not exactly telling the truth.

So here's how I see things:
- probability that the violinist in question was Ms. Koh: 90%
- probability that the violin in question was the General Dupont: 70%

The mystery might be cleared up if we knew what violin Jennifer Koh currently plays and/or who currently plays the General Dupont.

But something tells me that that information will not be forthcoming.


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

It is simply not believable a violinist carrying a valuable instrument could leave it behind. I suspect either it was deliberate or other factors were involved.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

ArtMusic said:


> Shocking! How could anyone be so careless with a priceless violin?


That was my first reaction and adding to that, why travelling on public transport with such priceless instrument?


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Oddly, the new season of Mozart in the Jungle has the concertmaster claiming his violin was stolen in order to get the insurance proceeds. The conductor has friends in the underworld (this is in Mexico) and the truth is uncovered. Then he has to decide what to do.


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## gardibolt (May 22, 2015)

Pugg said:


> That was my first reaction and adding to that, why travelling on public transport with such priceless instrument?


A good question for Rachel Barton Pine.


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

Pugg said:


> That was my first reaction and adding to that, why travelling on public transport with such priceless instrument?


I see musicians carry their instruments on public transport in black cases and the cases were always very close/next to them, as it should.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Reuters telegrams are often based on other sources, not their own journalists´ fact-finding.

Here´s an original police press release from January 7th, at 11:07, not mentioning the violinist by name, and stating her age as merely "young", not "in her 20s", and giving the name of the violin:
http://aktuell.meinestadt.de/saarbruecken/polizeimeldungen#ms-police-item-3218821

The episode took place on Tuesday, the 5th.

A sensationalist newspaper BILD did some research and presented the story about Koh, on the 7th too, at 13:07. 
http://www.bild.de/regional/saarlan...ach-saarbruecken-vergessen-44056038.bild.html

The article with the owner/lender´s denial is probably from later on January 7th.

This caused confusion for a music critic like Norman Lebrecht
http://slippedisc.com/2016/01/strad-left-on-german-train-the-plot-thickens/

But here´s another, detailed German story from the 8th, saying that the violinist was indeed Koh, who contacted the police, that a spokesperson from the orchestra says she was still in shock of the scandal, etc.
http://www.sol.de/neo/nachrichten/s...indet-Millionen-Geige-wieder;art34275,4755124


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## Grizzled Ghost (Jun 10, 2015)

Excellent!

The mystery is reduced to the question of which violin was left behind − the General Dupont or another one.

Maybe someone knows which violin Jennifer Koh currently plays? 

Or who currently plays the General Dupont?


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

The German police press release also mentions the General Dupont violin, so the later denial seems to the problem, unless new information has turned up; that Koh should be unaware which one she forgot seems unlikely ...

I think the denial could be issued without knowing the content of the press release ...


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## dsphipps100 (Jan 10, 2016)

ArtMusic said:


> Shocking! How could anyone be so careless with a priceless violin?


Hey, if James Bond and Kara Milovy can snow-sled down the Alps in the case of a Stradivarius cello while the cello itself gets a bullet hole from the Russian border patrol, then anything can happen.


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## herblison (Aug 10, 2015)

It was reported years ago that Yo-Yo Ma left his Stradivarius cello in a taxi. Fortunately the driver
tracked him down and returned it to him.


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