[samtheman]

The violin was on loan to Rhee-Nakajima from a music dealer who was attempting to sell it on behalf of its owner.

Ok. Scale of 0 - 10.

0 = dumber than a bag of hammers
10 = Albert Einstein

So where is the music dealer on this scale?

[Cagey]

I once asked a real estate agent if I could borrow an Ocean Front house for a weekend party to see if I liked it.

[CatoRenasci]

Perhaps witless in his choice of musician to lend it to, but the practice of owners (whether dealers or not) of especially valuable string instruments lending them to younger up and coming players is a common one, which enables them to improve in ways ordinary instruments won't and let's them find their true voice as a performer.

Many of the Stradivarius instruments are lent either permanently or for limited periods to players.

Even with woodwinds, the practice is not unknown, especially with flutes. Truly great flutes from the first half of the 20th century (esp. Powells) have been donated to foundations specifically for the purpose of lending them to young artists.

[Drew68]

So where is the music dealer on this scale?

Probably, somehow, in on the scheme.

[GOP_Proud]

< Ok. Scale of 0 - 10.
0 = dumber than a bag of hammers
10 = Albert Einstein

So where is the music dealer on this scale? >

Loaning out violins on approval is very common. It just appears that something else is going on here.

[libstripper]

Oddly enough, I think it's a bit hard to say without knowing more about the person to whom he loaned it. When I first set out to purchase a Navigator in 2000, I wanted to test drive it a total distance of about 36 miles before buying it. The dealership loaned me the vehicle, I drove it home over a variety of roads, parked it in my garage, and drove it back to the dealership. Its sticker price was about $50,000. By loaning it to me for an unsupervised test drive they made the sale. That was the same motivation here and the uniqueness of the violin, valuable as it was, still made it very hard for anyone to dispose of it. Thus, if they reasonably viewed the potential purchaser as reliable, the loan for a tryout was probably a good idea.