Stolen basses and bows

[Brent Nussey]

On May 2, 2010, the bass shop Atto in Mitaka, Tokyo, Japan was broken into and several instruments and bows were stolen. In case any of these are removed from Japan and attempts are made to sell them in other countries, I'd like to ask everyone to be on the lookout for these stolen instruments:

BASSES:

Nicola Utili: string length 105cm. roundback, original label inside. Modern Italian
http://www5.ocn.ne.jp/~atto/UTII/UTILI.html

Giuseppe Salvadori 1877 (Pistoia) string length 102cm. Italian flatback. Made in the traditional method/style of Marche, Italy. Top wood in almost flawless condition. original label inside. Small instrument, with the length of the top being 105cm
http://www5.ocn.ne.jp/~atto/Salvadori/Salvadori.html

Giuseppi Baldantoni 1812: string length 102cm. Roundback. Small instrument, with the length of the top being 104cm
http://www5.ocn.ne.jp/~atto/Baldantoni/GB.html


BOWS:

Adriano Massari: German. Silver lapping/mounting 70.5cm, 137g

H.R. Pretzschner: German, Octagonal stick. Rare gold lapping model. Limited edition model made only in 1999, with carved seal attached, numbered as number 3. 70.5cm, 135g

L. Morizot: German, (originally a French bow, original French frog also included) 68.5cm 124g

H.R. Pretzschner: German, Octagonal stick. (originally a French bow) 70.5cm 143g

G.A. Pretzschner: German, Octagonal stick. (originally a French bow, original French frog also included) 69.5cm 143g

A. Vaudoisey: German, Octagonal stick. 70.0cm 141g

M. LaPierre: French, octagonal stick. (with papers by Slaviero) 67.0cm 127g

Dupuy: French, octagonal stick. 68.5cm 133g

A. Massari (gold) 1992 French 67.0cm 133g

A. Massari 1993 French. (copy of Vigneron) 66.0cm 141g

Giovanni Lucchi: French (early example from his shop in Bolognia) 68.0cm 143g

F. Maggi: French. 66.8cm 139g

J. Klermang: French. 67.5cm


If you have or come across any information about these instruments, please contact:

Contrabass shop ATTO
http://www5.ocn.ne.jp/~atto/
TEL 0422-41-2213
FAX 0422-46-8491
E -MAIL attobass@festa.ocn.ne.jp

If language proves to be a problem, I can be contacted at online@brentnussey.com to help with translation and interpreting. I'd also appreciate if this information could be passed on to any dealers who might be offered these kind of items for sale.

Thanks,
Brent Nussey

[Ken Smith]

Those are all beautiful basses. I would bet it was a local job as those are the 'cherries' especially the Baldantoni and the Salvadori. Both fairly rare basses.

Who should be contacted if we hear anything? Is there a police report on file?

The Bow collection has some special sticks as well. I owned two of Lucchi's early sticks as well and met him personally. The classics there are not cheap at all. At least a good bass or two worth of bows gone as well.

[Brent Nussey]

Yeah, I tend to think that whoever did it really knew what they were doing. The shop had a lot of stock, and those were the most expensive instruments and bows. The bass community here is relatively small and tight knit though, so I wonder if the thieves don't have some plan to try and remove the instruments or at least the bows to other countries (maybe other asian countries) to get rid of them.

If you should hear anything about any of the stuff, you can contact the shop directly, at:

Contrabass shop ATTO
http://www5.ocn.ne.jp/~atto/ (http://www5.ocn.ne.jp/%7Eatto/)
TEL +81-422-41-2213
FAX +81-422-46-8491
E -MAIL attobass@festa.ocn.ne.jp

if there seems to be any language barrier, I can be reached at online@brentnussey.com to translate. I'm sure there's a police report, and investigation, this sort of theft is pretty rare here. But I just wanted to make a list of what was lost in English and get it out there, just to make it harder for the thieves to get rid of it.

The shop was really cleaned out of all of it's best stuff, here's hoping some of it can be found and the criminals brought to justice.

Thanks,
Brent

[Brent Nussey]

So this story fortunately has a happy ending. It turns out that the basses (5) and bows (19) were stolen by a 26 year old bass enthusiast. He said that he saw the instruments and bows online, and came to want them. So when the dealer went on vacation, he came by, broke in, and helped himself! The stuff was all found safe and sound in his place in Atsugi, a town a bit outside of Tokyo. He was caught when he tried to break into another shop in Meguro to do the same thing....

That said, the whole thing might make a great ad for the mini-cooper. He took the 5 basses and 19 bows in 2 separate trips in the car shown at the end of the video below. The trip would be some 50km.

http://news.tbs.co.jp/jnn/asx/news4514644_12.asx

Anyway, just goes to show it's not a good idea to let people know when you'll be on vacation.

Brent

[Thomas Erickson]

Wow! :eek:

That guy must enjoyed himself for a while - hopefully he learns his lessons in jail and gives something back to the bass community someday. He clearly loves the instrument enough! :confused: