$25,000 stolen violin back with owner

Arlington: Stolen instrument made in 1923

 

05:33 AM CDT on Friday, October 6, 2006

By JEFF MOSIER / The Dallas Morning News

 

ARLINGTON – The thief who broke into Barbara Oh's SUV Monday knew the basics of the smash-and-grab but little about famous Italian luthiers. The burglar took the teen's backpack full of schoolbooks and a 1923 Gaetano Gadda violin. The instrument – on loan from a Denton music store and worth more than some new cars – was found a day later in an Arlington pawnshop.

 

"He got a couple of hundred dollars for it," said Detective Jim McRobbie. "I don't think he had any idea what it was."

 

The burglar hasn't been found, but the violin is back in the hands of Barbara, a soft-spoken 17-year-old and concertmaster of the Martin High School Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Gadda was a famed Italian luthier – or builder of stringed instruments – from the first half of the 20th century. Barbara's instrument was made in Cremona, Italy, the hometown of Antonio Stradivari. She said the violin's owner told her that if the instrument were to be auctioned, the bidding would likely start at $25,000. Several stores specializing in violins and high-end musical instruments list Gadda violins in the $20,000-$50,000 category.

 

Barbara said she left the violin in her sport utility vehicle Monday to go into a south Arlington gym. When she returned, she said, she saw the broken window and knew what had happened. "I fell on the street and cried," Barbara said. Detectives told her that stolen property often is gone for good. Barbara said she figured there was a one in a million chance she'd see the violin again.

 

She performed with the school symphony on Tuesday and had to borrow her sixth-grade sister's violin. The teen said she felt like she had let down the members of the symphony. A day later, the news arrived.

 

Detective McRobbie said the thorough report from the investigating officer and the use of LEADS Online – an Internet-based database to help find stolen property – led him to the Gadda.

 

"I didn't believe it until I got it in my hands again," Barbara said.

 

The violin is back just in time for a bittersweet farewell to Barbara's career as a performer. She was diagnosed as having carpal tunnel syndrome last year and, at one point, couldn't hold the violin or even open a bottle of water. This will be her final year as a musician, she said. Barbara started playing when she was 5 and several years ago, performed at a national teachers' conference attended by former first lady Barbara Bush.

 

She said that performance was a particularly important moment for her. It convinced her that she could and should be a professional musician. And it was a chance to meet the woman who inspired her nickname.

 

Barbara's real first name is Yujin. But when her family emigrated from South Korea 14 years ago, the Ohs decided to call her Barbara in honor of the first lady. "They wanted me to be a leader," Barbara said. Since the carpal tunnel dashed her first dream, Barbara has had to find a new passion. She wants to go to medical school and study the causes and treatment of the syndrome. Maybe, she said, the next person like her won't have to quit.

(LEADSONLINE CLIENT – ARLINGTON, TX POLICE DEPT.)