Altman played stolen violin

Press, 20 May 1987, Page 33

Altman played stolen violin

NZPA-AP Connecticut A violinist performed for 49 years without telling anyone his instrument was a Stradivarius, then confessed on his death bed that the instrument

had been stolen, his wife said. Marcelle Hall said her husband, Julian Altman, played the instrument in symphonies, restaurants, society functions and even at the White House. In 1985, when Altman was dying of stomach cancer, he called his wife to his side and instructed her to look between the canvas cover of the violin case. There, she found newspaper accounts of the

theft of a Stradivarius violin from Carnegie Hall in 1936. Her husband told her he had bought the violin for SUSIOO ($175) from the man who had stolen it. Last week, a dealer authenticated the violin for its insurer, Lloyd’s of London; which had paid the owner SUS4O,OOO ($70,000) after the theft, Mrs Hall said. She said Lloyd’s would

pay her a reward for its recovery. She would not disclose the amount of the reward. The violin would be refurbished and displayed at a festival in Cremona, Italy, celebrating the 250th anniversary of the death of the violin-maker, Antonio Stradivari. Eventually, Lloyds would sell the violin, said associates of Charles Beare, who authenticated the instrument.