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Miscellaneous See other Miscellaneous Articles Title: Customs seize million-dollar violin German customs seized a $1.2 million violin from a professional musician and are demanding she pay almost $500,000 to get it back, reports said on Wednesday. Belgium-based Yuzuko Horigome was transiting through Frankfurt Airport last week after performing in her home country Japan, the top-selling Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper said. When she tried to walk through the green gate for travellers arriving in the EU with nothing to declare, customs officers stopped her and said she needed to pay €190,000 in duty on her 1741 Guarnerius violin. On top of this were fines, taking the total cost to an eye-popping €380,000 euros, the Tokyo-based paper said. Customs confiscated the valuable instrument because she could not provide the documents for her 1986 purchase, the Yomiuri said. "The instrument is a tool for my work. For musicians, instruments are like parts of your bodies," she told the Yomiuri. "I have used Frankfurt Airport many times and never had problems like this before. I don't know why this happened." She has since submitted documents to prove her ownership of the violin, but negotiations have been difficult, the paper said, quoting the musician. Horigome, who has worked in Europe for three decades, said she would also contact the governments of Japan and Belgium to see if they could help. A spokesman for the German authorities has suggested that the violin might be returned if it is regarded as necessary for her job, the paper said. Guarnerius violins are considered among the world's best, ranked alongside those made by Stradivarius and Amati. Horigome plays in cities around the world with top conductors and orchestras, including the Berliner Philharmoniker, the London Symphony Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic. AFP/hc Poster Comment: pepsionice The odds of some customs inspector at Frankfurt picking the right passenger exiting and then going for the violin and making the "discovery"? I've been through the Frankfurt airport at least forty times and never hit on by the inspector. Most of the time....the desks/stations are unoccupied. So I'm going to suggest that they knew this person was coming through, and they knew of the violin ahead of time. Someone reported the person through tips and they just sat and waited for them to make some travel through the airport. Repatriated I recently had a similar case with the German customs officials, but not to the magnitude of Ms. Horigome. When I retired from my US company and moved to Germany my company gave me pair of binoculars as a going-away present. It was subsequently mailed to my address in Germany along with the necessary paperwork and a stated value of $50. Customs decided to levy a 68 euro duty on the $50 binoculars. I rejected the delivery from UPS on the basis that the customs duty far exceed the value of the binoculars. Subsequently my company was gracious enough to pick up the extra cost and paid the outlandish customs tax and the binoculars were finally delivered. BobbyBaxter German authorities like an easy target to make money from - usually from hard working people who do not have a criminal bone in their body. Very cynical ploy from the authorities - she has my full sympathies. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
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