Federal investigators are busy this Christmas season looking for a ‘grinch’ who stole a white Tesla that had an old 18th century violin that said it was worth up to $ 900,000 inside the vehicle that was left unlocked by its owner.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is asking the public for help to locate the vehicle and an Amati 1710 violin that was taken by a thief in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles on December 8.
The instrument, made from curly maple and alpine spruce, was in excellent condition at the time it was stolen, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Auction records indicate that the violin was sold in 2013 for just over half a million dollars. If it were put up for auction today, it would probably yield somewhere between $ 700,000 and $ 900,000.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is asking the public for help in locating the vehicle and an Amati 1710 violin that was taken by a thief in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles on December 8.
The instrument, made of curly maple and alpine fir, was in excellent condition at the time it was stolen
The violin was made by Girolamo (Hieronymus) Amati II, great-grandson of Andrea Amati, considered the inventor of the modern violin
The violin was made by Girolamo (Hieronymus) Amati II, great-grandson of Andrea Amati, considered the inventor of the modern violin.
It belongs to Rowland Weinstein, an art dealer and owner of a gallery that divides his time between Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Weinstein allowed his professional musician and violinist friends to play the instrument.
On December 8, he left the violin in his white Tesla sedan that was parked in front of his home and on his Los Feliz property.
That was when someone opened the door, took the violin and ran away.
The violin’s owner, art dealer Rowland Weinstein, said he left it in his Tesla parked outside his home in Los Feliz, Los Angeles. Weinstein is seen above in New York City in September 2014
Weinstein told the LA Times that the car key accidentally slipped out of his pocket and fell behind the driver’s seat.
The automatic locking mechanism works only when the driver takes the key and exits the vehicle.
Since the key fell, the Tesla doors have been unlocked.
According to the Times, Weinstein transported the violin because he thought the previous location where it was stored was not safe enough.
He had planned to just leave the violin in the car momentarily. When he returned, he realized that the car was gone and called the police.
FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said authorities have so far failed to track the vehicle or the violin.
Eimiller said it is possible that a car thief was in the area and that the instrument was not the intended target.
“According to the LAPD, a car thief is believed to have been in the area,” said Eimiller.
‘It is possible that the person who stole did not know the value and discovered it [later] and you can try to pawn it or sell it abroad.
‘Therefore, it is essential to take the information to the public so that, with luck, someone who has received it, or is offered it, can identify it and return it to its rightful owner.’
Weinstein is offering a $ 25,000 reward to anyone with information leading to a safe return of the violin.
He told the Times that he was “heartbroken” at the theft.
“I am responsible for a piece of history and that piece of history has eluded me,” Weinstein said.
This is the second time that Weinstein has been targeted by thieves. In 2011, Mark Lugo, from Hoboken, New Jersey, left the Weinstein gallery in San Francisco having made a pencil drawing of Pablo Picasso from 1965, ‘Tete de Femme’.
‘It is so fragile. My biggest fear is that someone who doesn’t know what they have will put it in the wrong environment and it will be damaged or destroyed. ‘
In October 2013, Weinstein paid $ 507,436 for the violin after it was auctioned for sale at Tarisio, an online auction house.
Tarisio’s director Jason Price told the Times that rare instruments are valued annually.
If the 1710 Amati were to be auctioned today, it could yield up to $ 900,000, according to Price.
Two years ago, another Amati violin that was made around the year 1700 was sold at the auction house Ingles & Hayday in London for $ 917,453.
The Amati family from Cremona, Italy, is known as the inventor of the modern violin.
This particular violin was created during the ‘golden period’ of violin making.
Although Weinstein is not a musician, he has a sense of historical responsibility for the artifact, given the role of the family in its creation.
“I am the guardian of that,” said Weinstein.
Lugo, in the photo above, served 16 months in prison for theft
“I feel extremely close to that because it is a part of the story that has touched so many lives.
‘Not just the lives of people who were lucky enough to play it, but of those who heard it for more than 300 years.’
This is the second time that Weinstein has been targeted by thieves.
In 2011, Mark Lugo of Hoboken, New Jersey, who is known as the ‘Thomas Crown of Art Thieves’, left the Weinstein gallery having made a 1965 Pablo Picasso pencil drawing, ‘Tete de Femme.’
The work was recovered by the authorities shortly afterwards and Lugo was arrested. He was sentenced to 16 months in prison.
Weinstein said he is amazed that he has been targeted by thieves twice.
‘It is beyond anything I had ever anticipated,’ he said.
‘I just hope that the violin will have the same happy ending as Picasso.’
The FBI continues to investigate the case, said Eimiller, and asks anyone with information to call (310) 477-6565.