Machold Rare Violins
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Machold Rare Violins, domiciled in Bremen, was the global market leader in the historic string instruments trade.
The company was established in 1861 in Markneukirchen as a violin manufacturer. The owner was Dietmar Harry Joachim Machold, born in 1949 and resident at Schloss Eichbüchl bei Katzelsdorf. Of the surviving 600 violins, 60 cellos and 12 violas crafted by Antonio Stradivari in Cremona, Italy, around half have passed through Machold's. The company also sold Guarneri del Gesù violins.[1]
Dietmar Machold was given the title of honorary professor for a collection of historic violins he procured for the Oesterreichische Nationalbank.[1]
Criminal investigation
Two bankers from Sparkasse Bremen bank invited violin maker Roger Hargrave to inspect their violins, which they believed to be Stradivarius violins. Machold had represented them as such when he offered them as collateral for a multi-million dollar loan.[2] Had the violins been genuine, their estimated combined sale price would be around €5.2 million (US$6.8 million). Upon viewing the instruments Hargrave said they were not made by Stradivari, and the estimated value for each piece would only be around €2,000-€3,000. The violins were also examined by forestry expert Michael Beuting; in his analysis of the wood used to craft the violins, Beuting concluded that trees had not been felled during Stradivari's lifetime. Beuting also stated that the wood had not come from the Southern Alps, where the spruce trees used by Stradivari can be found.[1]
The 1765 Carlo Ferdinando Landolfi viola, which had been given to Machold in commission, appeared on a Flessabank list having been used as collateral, but the bank had not received physical possession of the viola. Instead the viola, along with another by Camillus Camilli, had ended up at the Raiffeisenlandesbank Niederösterreich-Wien (Austrian Savings Banks). He then gave the lenders at Flessabank different instruments that didn't belong to him, which were seized during the investigation.[1] Machold told police that he had sold the Ex-Rosé Stradivarius in 2006 for €3 million to pay off his loan with BAWAG. However, he had also used the violin for collateral with Bayerische HypoVereinsbank, who received nothing. Machold admitted that he "duplicated certificates for violins" when he needed.[1]
46 criminal complaints were filed in Australia, the United States, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.[1]
Arrest and Conviction
Dietmar Machold was arrested in Switzerland in March 2011. He was accused of embezzlement and grand commercial fraud, among other things. A further reason for his arrest is the fact that Machold has settled in Switzerland instead of remaining in Austria.[3] In November 2012, Machold was convicted of embezzlement and fraud by an Austrian court. He was sentenced to 6 years in prison.[4]
