Four years after it bought a collection of rare stringed instruments — including pieces by master craftsmen Stradivari and Guarneri — a New Jersey orchestra has decided to resell them, with a catch.
The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra announced the sale this week of its collection of 30 violins, violas and cellos, some of which were crafted by famed Italian masters Antonio Stradivari and Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesu.
Investment bankers Seth and Brook Taube — said to be amateur violinists — along with a group of investors have bought the collection for $20 million US.
As part of the deal, the orchestra will retain the right to play 28 of the 30 instruments for at least five years, as well as a share of the proceeds if the group decides to resell the collection in the future.
The two Taubes have taken possession of the remaining two instruments: both by Stradivari and dating from the early 18th century.
The orchestra says it is dealing with an accumulated debt of more than $14 million US — much of it remaining from the $17 million US it originally paid for the collection.
The NJSO purchased the collection of stringed instruments after businessman and symphony donor Herbert Axelrod first put them up for sale in 2002.
Axelrod had said the instruments were valued at close to $50 million US, but that number was subsequently disputed by experts. Not long after, the former pet products and publishing mogul became involved in an unrelated tax fraud case and landed in prison.
Symphony officials announced they were putting the instrument collection up for sale in March. The troupe had originally hoped it could develop an international reputation performing with the collection.
With files from the Associated PressRelated
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