Lost 18th-century Italian-made violin found in alley near Manhattan bar
NEW YORK (AP) — An 18th-century Italian-made violin reported missing earlier this week was found in an alley near the Manhattan bar where its owner had left it, police said.
Odin Rathnam, the first-chair violinist for the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra, had been in New York for a meeting and left the violin, along with a borrowed viola, at Yogi’s bar on the Upper West Side.
The violin, valued at about $95,000 US, was made by Bartolomeo Calvaros of Bergamo, Italy, between 1750 and 1755; the viola belonged to a friend.
Rathnam said he was “the luckiest man alive.”
“This is like a reunion,” he told the New York Post. “When you finally learn (to play the violin) and find an instrument you’re compatible with, it’s a relationship. You feel like you lost a loved one when you lose it.”
A patron at the bar, Noah Garden, told the Post he had “won” the violin in an impromptu fiddling contest at the bar. He said he pawned it for $600 but didn’t remember where the pawn shop was, the Post said.
It was unclear how the instruments, which a maintenance worker found Wednesday night, wound up in the alley.
― The Huckle-Buck (Horace Mann), Thursday, 15 April 2004 19:41 (twenty-two years ago)
A patron at the bar, Noah Garden, told the Post he had “won” the violin in an impromptu fiddling contest at the bar. He said he pawned it for $600 but didn’t remember where the pawn shop was, the Post said.Subtext? "When You Know You've Chugged One Too Many". Pure insanity, but the best prize ever.
― Nichole Graham (Nichole Graham), Thursday, 15 April 2004 19:50 (twenty-two years ago)
Every night at this bar, apparently.
(Glad to see you round these parts more, MM, BTW)
― Nichole Graham (Nichole Graham), Thursday, 15 April 2004 19:55 (twenty-two years ago)
I don't think it would be every night, or the adjective "impromptu" wouldn't make as much sense. It's gotta be more like the kind of thing that happens when a bunch of guys at the bar have a little too much and then one of them just starts it by slurring "I kin out-fiddle every last one of youse, dagnabbit!"
― martin m. (mushrush), Thursday, 15 April 2004 20:00 (twenty-two years ago)
Lookee here, Dock, that's one pritty fiddle, I bet it's worth, why $600!
Ain't no one gonna pay that much fer no fiddle, Marl.
― The Huckle-Buck (Horace Mann), Thursday, 15 April 2004 20:04 (twenty-two years ago)