<p>I am absolutely horrified at this news from Milwaukee! <a href="http://fox6now.com/2014/01/28/police-investigate-robbery-of-6-million-stradivarius-violin/">http://fox6now.com/2014/01/28/police-investigate-robbery-of-6-million-stradivarius-violin/</a></p>
<p>oh my. They stunned him with a taser??? I have a feeling that they will hold the violin “hostage” until the insurance company pays a large sum of money. </p>
<p>This obviously isn’t a street crime, someone knowledgeable tipped them off. Violins, no matter how expensive, are not going to be targeted by street criminals, because if they know the value of a violin (doubtful), they also know it is difficult to fence, street criminals want things like jewelry and such that can easily be fenced. Violins are more like rare art, it is very, very difficult to get rid of them…which also means whoever got the perps to do it sadly probably has a buyer, it is like with art thefts.</p>
<p>There was a case in the UK I read about where some yokels stole a violin, and they literally didn’t know it was worth millions, they got nabbed when they tried to sell it to a pawn dealer for like 50 bucks, and the pawn dealer had seen a notice about the violin and contacted the cops. </p>
<p>Given that strads are pretty unique and the characteristics of the known ones are pretty well documented, I suspect this was someone who had a buyer lined up and stole it to contract…if they try to disguise it and then sell it, it will raise suspicions, since to make money they would need to sell it as a strad, and very few people are dimwitted enough to shell out 6 or 7 figures on a violin without getting it authenticated. If they disguise it well enough, then it would have no provenance, and given that every strad is accounted for, it would raise suspicions…</p>
<p>It could be an insurance thing, where they hold it for ransom, problem is that odds are if they try to carry it out the insurance company will make sure the perps get caught. </p>
<p>Perhaps, like some art heists, it will float around on the black market for awhile, going between lots of hands, and surface again many years later? Sad and scary though–Frank has posted on MSO Facebook the following: “Dear friends-thank you all so much for your enormous outpouring of concern and support. Please forgive me if I haven’t been able to get back to you individually, but events have been very hectic. It’s been a challenging week so far, and your comments and postings have meant a great deal to me. Thank you all again, and I hope at some point I can post better news.”</p>
<p>The last time this happened (in London per the article) the violin “resurfaced”. In the stolen art world, “resurfaced” means that the insurance company probably paid someone off. A lot easier to pay $150,000 in unmarked bills than pay out $6M to the owners. The “lost” UCLA Stradivarius “resurfaced” after 27 years. </p>
<p>They tossed the case and kept the instrument? Has the case been checked for fingerprints? That and the description of the van will hopefully yield something.</p>
<p>disgusting</p>