[CPProt.net] Stolen centuries-old violin found in LA alley

[Museum Security Network / Cultural Property Protection Net (Ton Cremers)]

Stolen centuries-old violin found in LA alley

RYAN PEARSON

Associated Press


LOS ANGELES - A rare, centuries-old violin that was filched from a car over
the weekend has been returned by a man who told police he found it in a
nearby alley while walking his dog.

The $850,000 instrument and bow, in good condition, are being checked for
fingerprints and are expected to be returned Saturday to rising soloist
Lindsay Deutsch, police said Thursday. The finder turned the violin in to a
West Hills police station on Wednesday night. His name was not released.

Deutsch, 20, said that she thought her musical aspirations were finished
when she realized the violin had been taken Sunday. A thief apparently pried
open a car window and snatched it off the seat where she had left it while
shopping for groceries.

"I've been waiting my whole life to get an instrument of this quality, and
for it to be gone like this, I didn't think I'd ever get this one back," she
said. "I felt like my career was over."

Now, she said, "Just that it's over is so amazingly good. I'm at peace."

The violin was crafted in 1742 by Sanctus Seraphin, the top maker of his
time in Venice, Italy. It is considered several notches below Stradivarius
instruments in quality but is one of only about 30 known Seraphins in
existence.

It had been loaned to Deutsch two years ago by collector Peter Mandell of
Los Angeles. Mandell, 36, said his insurance covered nearly every possible
contingency but theft from a vehicle.

"It's just been an emotional roller coaster," Mandell said after learning
Thursday that the violin had been recovered and meeting with Deutsch. "The
emotional vicissitudes have been intense."

Deutsch, who was overwhelmed to the point she threw up when she heard the
violin had been recovered, said she had been prepared to work off her
mistake by paying Mandell back what the violin was worth.

Deutsch's parents also had offered a $10,000 reward for the return of the
instrument. Derrick Deutsch, her father, said Thursday that he would give
the money to the finder "if they clear out" after the investigation.

Police are checking into the background of the finder.

"At this point he's just a good Samaritan until we find otherwise," said
Detective Don Hrycyk of the LAPD's art theft detail. He said the thief may
have initially thought the violin was a piece of luggage because it was in a
hard case covered in cloth.

The theft came nearly a year after a Stradivarius cello valued at $3.5
million was recovered after the principal cellist for the Los Angeles
Philharmonic left it outside his home. A security video showed it being
carried away by a person on a bicycle.

"I'd hate to see these musicians targeted," Hrycyk said. "This is the tools
of their trade and you can't keep it under lock and key all the time;
They're constantly going to rehearsals and performances."

Deutsch - who spent much of Thursday giving television interviews to CNN and
local stations - said the theft came at a pivotal point in her career. She's
currently a student at Colburn Conservatory in downtown Los Angeles, but
recently had a number of high-profile solo performances.

She'll play alongside acclaimed pianist Jeffrey Kahane in Sonoma this
summer, and in December is performing back-to-back Vivaldi's "Four Seasons"
and Astor Piazzola's "Four Seasons of Buenos Aires"

She said that even before the violin was returned, Mandell offered to loan
her another instrument from his collection.

"It just requires so much trust," she said. "For me to let him down in that
way was huge, and for him to then agree to give it back to me was quite
incredible."

---_

On the Net:

http://www.lindsaydeutsch.com