Dietmar Machold

It now comes to light that Dietmar Machold, a respected dealer in fine instruments is under investigation for supposedly dealing fraudulently with buyers and sellers.  He had offices all over the world and was well-known among high-end dealers.  He was known as Mr. Stradivarius and had built his business very quickly.  His father used to be a violin maker.  Spiegel Online has a rather comprehensive article about Machold's troubles, if you can make time to read it.  I wrote a story about Joseph Tang a few months ago and mentioned at that time that his victims had at least not suffered huge losses because they had not dealt in high-end instruments.  Dietmar Machold appears to be the Major League version of Joseph Tang.  He has been accused of perpetrating frauds to the tune of $35,000,000, selling fakes or inflating prices, or simply not paying owners for instruments he sold which had been placed with him on a consignment basis.  Some sources speculate that the swindles were in excess of $100,000,000.  I wouldn’t know.  The New Jersey Symphony was allegedly one of his victims.  A European bank made him loans of more than $4,000,000 which were secured by instruments purportedly worth a lot more than $4,000,000 but whose real value was closer to $5,000.  By the way, I am still very much of the opinion that the so-called Messiah Stradivarius is a fake.  It sits in a British Museum (the Ashmolean) away from any and all scrutiny.  I have very little respect for dealers who have everything to gain by issuing certificates of authenticity and giving opinions of value on violins they sell.  In fact, I prefer new violins to old, be they Guarnerius, Stradivarius, or Guadagnini. Fritz Reuter knows.