[MSN] Stolen Stradivarius returning to Dallas

[Museum Security Network Mailinglist]

Posted on Wed, Mar. 22, 2006  
 
Stolen Stradivarius returning to Dallas

By MARILYN BAILEY
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER

A Stradivarius violin that was stolen in Dallas in 1985 has surfaced at a
London auction house and is being returned to its owner -- the Dallas
Symphony Orchestra.

The rare violin, which has an estimated value of $1 million, was purchased
by the orchestra in 1978 and disappeared 21 years ago from the Oak Lawn
apartment of longtime concertmaster Emanuel Borok.

The auction house Bonhams was asked by a U.S. dealer to handle the sale of
the violin. When the instrument was traced back to the Dallas Symphony,
Bonhams made a deal with the vendor to return the violin to its rightful
owner.

The violin did incur some damage, but it is being restored, said Stacie
Adams, a DSO spokeswoman. The instrument remains in London, and no one from
the orchestra has seen it yet, she said. 

Because of a confidentiality agreement, the DSO is unlikely ever to find out
where the instrument has been all these years. All that is known is that the
lawyer who represented the American dealer is based in Los Angeles, Adams
said.

Stradivarius, who lived from 1644 to 1737 and worked in Cremona, Italy, made
about 1,200 violins. About 600 survive today, and they are prized for their
superior sound. The Dallas Symphony's instrument was made in about 1725.