Davidoff Morini Stradivarius Theft Oct. 18, 1995: Suspects With Keys

Summary: The Davidoff Morini Stradivarius theft Oct. 18, 1995, in Manhattan, New York, subverts a violinist's last wish for her violin's sale for three charities.

violinist Erica Morini in undated photograph: George Grantham Bain Collection, Public Domain, via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) addresses as interested parties people with access to the concert violin appropriated in Manhattan, New York, by the Davidoff Morini Stradivarius theft perpetrator Oct. 18, 1995.

The article The Case of the Stolen Stradivarius by reporter Amy Dickinson in The Washington Post May 9, 1999, bears a list of the interested parties. The list completed by the FBI New York office under Special Agent James P. Wynne and by Manhattan police considers unassuming aides, building workers and maids. It designates among interested parties concert violin owner Erica Morini's (Jan. 5, 1904-Oct. 31, 1995) accountant, brother, first cousin-in-law's adopted son, goddaughter, goddaughter's daughter and luthier.

The list excludes Stella Morini (Jan. 12, 1898-Feb. 7, 1996), Central Park West resident, Erica's singing and violin-playing older sister and Piero Riccardi's wife since 1922.

front and back view of Davidoff Morini Stradivarius violin: FBI Art Crime Team, Public Domain, via Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)

The list furnishes no names for all the numbers of people, such as cleaners and doormen, that fill requirements for approved, key access within apartment buildings.

Peter Saphier (March 11, 1914-Oct. 14, 2003), partner in the Turetsky and Saphier accountancy firm of New York City, got listed for executing the violinist's will. The Dickinson article has him on the FBI's prominent parties list since "we all knew where the violin was and vaguely how much it was worth." It indicated his first-time viewing six months before the theft to "see what a $3 1/2 million violin looked like. And it looked like a violin."

The Davidoff Morini Stradivarius theft list juxtaposes as interested parties one individual with a violin-related profession and six, including the accountant, with non-music occupations and pastimes.

Advice columnist, author and reporter Amy Dickinson prefaced her comprehensive list of possible suspects in 1999 with the observation, "This is a violin more valuable, more famous, more beautiful than any one person who could play it. And it is every bit as gone as the violinist, with a marginally higher chance of coming back."; Amy Dickinson in Chicago, Oct. 3, 2008: Abitahooey, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The list knows one blood relative in Frank H. Morini, art dealer in French Impressionist masterpieces, resident of Fifth Avenue and younger brother of the violinist. The Dickinson article looks at an unsolved theft of a six-carat diamond and of $25,000 from the violinist's apartment "[t]wo or three years" before her death. It mentions Frank's maintaining that "My sister always kept her things stupidly" and "the same person who stole the diamond and the money took the violin."

Lucien Orasel Tomberg, in-law through adoption and neighbor since 1984, noted that "The violin might be in somebody's house" because "Erica had given it to them." He observed that "after the newspapers came out it was difficult for them, but they have papers from Erica showing that she wanted to do this."

Violin dealer and maker Brian Skarstad sought to purchase the Davidoff Morini Stradivarius in 1995: ES @EastmanStrings via Twitter Sept. 22, 2016

Possession through written preference prompts participation of Erica Bradford, the violinist's goddaughter and namesake, and of her daughter Valerie among Davidoff Morini Stradivarius theft interested parties. The daughter and the mother queue up as the first witnesses to the violin's absence during a quick check per request of the Mount Sinai-hospitalized violinist.

Possible possession through written permission renders Brian Skarstad, violin dealer and maker and visitor since 1994, as an interested party in the Davidoff Morini Stradivarius theft. Brian shows up among Davidoff Morini Stradivarius theft interested parties for seeking to purchase the violin for under the violinist's $4 million asking price during 1995.

The insurance company takes the tack that a $100,000 reward tendered without conditions, questions or repercussions sufficiently teases the Davidoff Morini Stradivarius theft away from permanence.

exterior view of Erica Morini's home address and site of 1995 Davidoff Morini Stradivarius violin theft, 1200 Fifth Avenue, New York: Brian Cooper, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Erica Morini in undated photograph: George Grantham Bain Collection, Public Domain, via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division @ https://www.loc.gov/item/ggb2006011026/

front and back view of Davidoff Morini Stradivarius violin: FBI Art Crime Team, Public Domain, via Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) @ https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/violent-crime/art-theft/fbi-top-ten-art-crimes/theft-of-the-davidoff-morini-stradivarius

Advice columnist, author and reporter Amy Dickinson prefaced her comprehensive list of possible suspects in 1999 with the observation, "This is a violin more valuable, more famous, more beautiful than any one person who could play it. And it is every bit as gone as the violinist, with a marginally higher chance of coming back."; Amy Dickinson in Chicago, Oct. 3, 2008: Abitahooey, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Amy_on_Street.jpg

Violin dealer and maker Brian Skarstad sought to purchase the Davidoff Morini Stradivarius in 1995: ES @EastmanStrings via Twitter Sept. 22, 2016, @ https://twitter.com/EastmanStrings/status/778963929133359104

exterior view of Erica Morini's home address and site of 1995 Davidoff Morini Stradivarius violin theft, 1200 Fifth Avenue, New York: Brian Cooper, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/95121642@N04/8725031823/

For further information:

Dickinson, Amy. 9 May 1999. "The Case of the Stolen Stradivarius." The Washington Post > Archive > Lifestyle.
Available @ https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1999/05/09/the-case-of-the-stolen-stradivarius/0170af90-9452-452b-9377-c3314899668f/?utm_term=.43f55e249b42

ES @EastmanStrings. 22 September 2016. "Our friend Brian Skarstad of Skarstad Violins seen here evaluating one of our professional cellos 3 years ago #TBT (Frederich Wyss VC703." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/EastmanStrings/status/778963929133359104

Marriner, Derdriu. 6 October 2017. "The Davidoff Morini Stradivarius Theft: Unsolved Since Oct. 18, 1955." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/10/the-davidoff-morini-stradivarius-theft.html

Marsh, Julia. 26 March 2017. "'This Is My Home': Tenant Feuding with Landlord Who Wants to Kick Him Out." New York Post > Metro > Exclusive.
Available @ http://nypost.com/2017/03/26/this-is-my-home-tenant-feuding-with-landlord-who-wants-to-kick-him-out/

McNearney, Allison. 5 March 2017. "Who Stole Erica Morini's $3.5Million Stradivarius Violin?" The Daily Beast > Lost Masterpieces.
Available @ http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/03/05/who-stole-erica-morini-s-3-5-million-stradivarius-violin

"Morini, Familie." Österreichisches Musiklexikon Online > Artikel.
Available @ http://hw.oeaw.ac.at/ml/musik_M/Morini_Familie.xml

"Paid Notice: Deaths Saphier, Peter." The New York Times > Classified > Oct. 17, 2003.
Available @ http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/17/classified/paid-notice-deaths-saphier-peter.html