Cue the sad violins.
An internationally-renowned Long Island music store sold valuable bass violins on consignment — and failed to give the owners the millions in proceeds, according to a pair of lawsuits.
The instruments included two bass violins and 43 bows estimated to be worth a collective $1.5 million from the estate of Marvin Topolsky, a longtime double bassist with the Metropolitan Opera who died in 2021. Topolsky worked for the opera for 51 years.
In addition to the longtime musician’s instruments, Kolstein Music in Baldwin and its owner, Manny Alvarez, allegedly took on consignment a Mateo Goffriller bass violin worth $255,000 from a Japanese owner, Yoshio Nagashima, according to a Brooklyn Federal Court lawsuit against the store.
Another Japanese citizen, Yoshio Aomori, consigned a Testore bass, a copy of a Testore and a Zimmerman model bass bow with Kolstein, believed to be worth $185,000, the owners said in court papers.
Andrew Wilson, a Massachusetts man who consigned a $60,000 Nicholas Vuillaume double bass to Kolstein, and Christopher Cook of Rhode Island, who put up an $18,000 Prague origin double bass at the shop, also sued the business in Nassau County Supreme Court last month.
It’s unclear when the instruments were handed over to Kolstein’s, which is known as the largest double bass shop on the East Coast “and possibly the nation,” said attorney Daniel Schiavetta, who represents the aggrieved instrument owners.
“They simply disappeared and Manny has not followed with inquiries,” Schiavetta said of the sold instruments.
A lawyer for Alvarez declined to comment on the allegations and said the store owner would respond in court.
