Drew McManus on the Orchestra business | est. 2003

Keeping Up With The Jones’ In New Jersey Part 2

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To continue where Part 1 left off, this article will examine more of the NJSO Internal Review Report to help determine why the NJSO decided to buy the Axelrod string instrument collection. A Review The Short Version The Trustees responsible for the report, Bill Baroni, Alan Danzis, John Forrest, labored to produce a document that is concise and very easy to read; it says exactly what is needed without unnecessary pontification.  …

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What Do You Do With $32 Million You Can’t Deduct?

  The latest chapter in the “Made for T.V.” saga that is the Herbert Axelrod scandal was his pleading guilty last week to helping a former employee file a fraudulent federal tax return. As part of that guilty plea Axelrod must file a 2003 tax form but is not allowed to claim a $32 million deduction for his collection of string instruments he sold to the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra.  The …

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Violin Turf Wars

Earlier in the week, I wrote about how the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra may very well have to submit their “Golden Age” collection purchased from Herbert Axelrod to a new appraisal and authentication process. In that article I briefly touched on the how the business of authenticating and appraising rare string instruments (violins, viola, and cellos) works in the music industry.  But today I’ll take a little closer look at that …

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