Posted on 12/31/2005 5:17:29 AM PST by Cagey
A $175,000 violin that was reported stolen turned up Friday on the steps of a San Bruno church, and San Francisco police said it was never stolen after all.
The violin, made in the 1700s by Italian craftsman Nicolo Gagliano, was recovered after a passer-by spotted it outside St. Roberts Church on Crystal Springs Road, according to police Sgt. Neville Gittens.
After the violin was turned over to San Francisco police, investigators again questioned Sabina Rhee-Nakajima, the San Francisco music student who told police Thursday that the violin had been stolen from the trunk of her car, which had been towed from a Western Addition supermarket parking lot.
Rhee-Nakajima then changed her story, Gittens said, and admitted that the violin had never been stolen and that she had filed a false police report.
Officers would not say whether Rhee-Nakajima was attempting to steal the violin or whether she would be charged with a crime. Gittens said she had not been offered leniency for its return.
The violin, along with three bows, was recovered undamaged.
The violin was on loan to Rhee-Nakajima from a music dealer who was attempting to sell it on behalf of its owner. Violin shops around the U.S. were alerted after the reported theft. Experts said it would have been extremely difficult to sell such a well-known stolen instrument or even to play it in public.
Early reports that the car towing company was involved in the violin's disappearance were also false,..........
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
For an adult-rated hoot, Googleize: Wanda Sykes Towyard
Have you tried the Thomastik-Infeld Power Brights? .010 through .045. Amazing strings Expensive, but amazing! I've got them on my 57 Strat, and through a Dr. Z the sound is wonderful.
Dollars to donuts, although they didn't steal the shifty little weasel's violin, they nabbed something else from her vehicle.
Crook-to-crook-transaction. Arrest everybody.
Too bad they found it, 'cause Jim Rockford could have used the $200-a-day-plus-expense. What did it take to get it back, a Franklin to Angel?
Tow Company Stolen Ping
BTW, I am proud to be on a site where a stolen property report turns into a learned discussion of classical violins and music.
FReepers were saying this story "smelled" from the start. Congratulations to those who nailed it! Woo-hoo..sw
Sheesh!!
Yoo hoo! Waving hand here to anyone wanting to loan one of those flutes.
Tow Company Stolen Ping
BTW, I am proud to be on a site where a stolen property report turns into a learned discussion of classical violins and music.
Happy New Year!
Oh, what tangled webs we weave....
A message from your friendly city-authorized tow operator.
Interesting thread...
On this level of bow and violin... what are the strings made out of?
Good question. I've heard they were made from horse hair, but I'll wait and see what the experts say.
The bow is strung with horsehair from the tail. More exactly, Mongolian horsehair. More exactly, Mongolian Stallion hair. Cheaper bows may be strung with mare tail hair which as we know, may be upon occasion degraded by urine. (Stallion urine flows away from the tail.)
Wow, very good with not dumbing down Handel's Messiah. Just this year our school has decided to divide the band into the better and no so good players. I was hoping it would show in the Christmas concert, but sadly, no. No wonder my All Region (!) flutist is bored.
She started out on my old college flute but a friend let us have their daughter's very nice one for a song (they'd just bought it for her senior year but she promptly dropped out of band two weeks later - $2800). Even without all the bells and whistles on the new one, I'm partial to my old flute's sound but that's just me. Ah, but it does a parent proud when their teen asks them to join in while they play. :)
I've been putting of doing anything with two of granny's violins. Maybe I should have them looked at. Haven't the slighted idea the names, though.
Interesting.
What a great Jeopardy answer that would make.
Lol. Where else but on FR?
And where else would you get information on that same thread of the sort in #54? lol
Happy New Year!
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