5 New Jersey Instruments Reported Likely Fakes
Associated Press
August 1, 2004
NEWARK, N.J. - Five of 30 supposedly rare stringed instruments bought by the New Jersey Symphony for $17 million from a man now under indictment for tax fraud are probably not authentic, a newspaper reported Sunday.
Five experts contacted by The Sunday Star-Ledger of Newark determined that four violins and one cello — among a collection purchased from pet products tycoon Herbert Axelrod — were not produced by the master craftsmen named by Axelrod.
The experts made their appraisal after viewing photographs of the instruments, the newspaper said. One of the five, a violin, was wrongly represented as a Domenico Montagnana made in 1740, they said.
The "Golden Age Collection" of 30 violins, violas and cellos includes rare works said to be made by such famed craftsmen as Antonio Stradivari and Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesu during the 17th and 18th centuries. Axelrod had valued the collection at $49 million — a figure some say is vastly inflated.
The symphony's official appraisal for the five instruments the experts examined is nearly $2.6 million. The appraisers said the instruments are worth "a fraction" of that, though they did not give a specific amount.
In addition, the experts said one violin appraised at $3.3 million is probably not the work of Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesu, but rather his father. If that is true, the instrument would be worth more than $2 million less than appraised, the newspaper reported.
The five experts include Charles Beare, head of a London-based firm that appraises and sells violins, and Robert Bein of Chicago, one of the world's busiest dealers in expensive violins.
Axelrod, 77, was indicted in April and fled to Cuba and then Europe. He arrested in Germany on June 15 and is jailed in Berlin pending extradition.
The FBI and Internal Revenue Service are investigating whether Axelrod inflated the instrument appraisals as part of a plan to take fraudulent tax deductions.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040801/ap_en_mu/violin_deal_4
Associated Press
August 1, 2004
NEWARK, N.J. - Five of 30 supposedly rare stringed instruments bought by the New Jersey Symphony for $17 million from a man now under indictment for tax fraud are probably not authentic, a newspaper reported Sunday.
Five experts contacted by The Sunday Star-Ledger of Newark determined that four violins and one cello — among a collection purchased from pet products tycoon Herbert Axelrod — were not produced by the master craftsmen named by Axelrod.
The experts made their appraisal after viewing photographs of the instruments, the newspaper said. One of the five, a violin, was wrongly represented as a Domenico Montagnana made in 1740, they said.
The "Golden Age Collection" of 30 violins, violas and cellos includes rare works said to be made by such famed craftsmen as Antonio Stradivari and Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesu during the 17th and 18th centuries. Axelrod had valued the collection at $49 million — a figure some say is vastly inflated.
The symphony's official appraisal for the five instruments the experts examined is nearly $2.6 million. The appraisers said the instruments are worth "a fraction" of that, though they did not give a specific amount.
In addition, the experts said one violin appraised at $3.3 million is probably not the work of Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesu, but rather his father. If that is true, the instrument would be worth more than $2 million less than appraised, the newspaper reported.
The five experts include Charles Beare, head of a London-based firm that appraises and sells violins, and Robert Bein of Chicago, one of the world's busiest dealers in expensive violins.
Axelrod, 77, was indicted in April and fled to Cuba and then Europe. He arrested in Germany on June 15 and is jailed in Berlin pending extradition.
The FBI and Internal Revenue Service are investigating whether Axelrod inflated the instrument appraisals as part of a plan to take fraudulent tax deductions.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040801/ap_en_mu/violin_deal_4
