A violinist has launched a legal claim against a New York dealer
who she alleges lost her violin while it was on consignment – by
giving it out for trial to someone who never returned.
A lawsuit was filed on 26 March against dealer Emmanuel
Gradoux-Matt (pictured right) by lawyers representing Kyung-Ah
Yang, a South Korean violinist who trained at the Manhattan School
of Music.
According to the suit, Yang consigned the instrument, an 1837 J.F.
Pressenda, in 1998 with New York shop René Morel Rare Violins,
where Gradoux-Matt worked at the time. The company was to sell the
violin for $285,000, says the suit, but the instrument did not find
a buyer.
In 2011, according to the suit, Yang wanted to retrieve her violin
from Gradoux-Matt, who had by then parted ways with René Morel and
formed his own firm, Gradoux-Matt Rare Violins. The suit alleges
that Yang's requests to see the instrument were 'repeatedly
ignored, dismissed or avoided', and that in January 2013, with the
violin now valued at around $400,000, Gradoux-Matt informed Yang
that 'he had let an individual in New York borrow [her] violin for
a trial, and the individual never returned'.
The suit continues: 'It appears that Gradoux-Matt conducted no
background check, did not request any deposit or other security
mechanism or take any other precaution to ensure that [Yang's]
violin would not be stolen.'
According to the suit, Yang is seeking $400,000 in compensation
damages, along with punitive damages of the same amount.
Gradoux-Matt was not available to comment.
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