Dylan's Newport Strat

[Bookkeeper's Son]

This was quite a story on the PBS Show History Detectives (incidentally, produced right here in Oregon) last night. The sucker is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, and of course, belongs in a museum.

http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetect...o/2253615057//

http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/n...ves/56275432/1

[Duffy]

Uh . . . How about, belongs to Dylan.

The dude may be old, but he "is" still alive; and he tours extensively. The items should be returned without delay or those holding them should be charged with possession of stolen property. Why? Because Dylan stated he wants them back and had considered them stolen.

Very simple solution to a simple problem: do the right thing, which should have been done in the first place. Rumor has it that they tried to return the stuff. This may or may not be true, or it may have been a cursory attempt. If all else failed it would have been easy to send the stuff to Columbia, or whoever was the record company, with a short explanation, and let them take care of the return.

Transportation services, airlines, etc., frequently lose peoples property, luggage, etc. They go to great length to re-unite the property with its owner - even to the point of "driving" the stuff to the place of the owner's convenience.

I don't believe that more than a weak effort to return this stuff to Dylan was originally made. I mean, the guy put the stuff in his attic.

This looks like another "this for that" scenario: "this" being the misappropriated property, and "that" being money from Dylan.

Transportation services have more than a casual responsibility to return misplaced property to their clients. This is the only ethical thing to do.

How would you like it if someone misappropriated one of your nicest guitars? Simple answer.

If it goes into a museum, the decision should be Dylan's.

Also, if these people are not seeking money, why would they have it appraised? And additionally, what is the professional, ethical responsibility of an appraisor, curator, or guitar dealer if he is presented with an item that he has reason to believe actually belongs to someone other than the person presenting it to him? Again, simple answer.

So, I can't sympathize with people that say this item is anything but the property of Dylan. In my opinion, no one but Dylan or the court should have any influence as to the disposition of these items. To me the situation is clear and simple to understand. Of course, when big money is involved, things can sometimes get complicated.

My opinion. Nothing else.

[R_of_G]

Have to say I agree with Duffy on this one. The guitar belongs to Dylan and he should decide it's fate.

[Stig]

I don't know. In the 60's Dylan didn't care. It was just a guitar. 40 years later it's tough to now say "yes, NOW I want it back.

[Bookkeeper's Son]

It's just fascinating to me that such an iconic guitar surfaced and was authenticated. Let the lawyers sort the details out. Wes Cowan, one of the appraisers on the show, mentioned in yet another case (Derringers that turned up, which were apparently stolen years before), appraisers often run into ownership issues regarding antiques. Probably no fun for them, either.