Sound of Music Returns to Adams

Just days after bringing his own detective work to the case, H. Christopher Shibutani '85 yesterday recovered more than $10,000 worth of flutes and piccolos stolen last Friday night from his Adams House room.

Shibutani, who plays first flute for the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra and who has recorded professionally, said yesterday that he notified the University police of the break-in early Saturday morning and later posted notices and called area music schools and pawn shops, providing a description and serial numbers for the instruments.

Another flute, valued at $4000, and several hundred dollars worth of stereo equipment belonging to Shibutani and his roommate still have not been recovered.

Fenced

On Saturday, Shibutani's work paid off when a pawnbroker in Central Square became suspicious as a customer tried to sell him a handmade silver flute for $30. The shopkeeper notified Shibutani and the police, and the flute proved to be one of those stolen from Adams.

As the merchant tried to flag down a cruising police car, Shibutani said, the customer dropped several instruments and fled the store. He remains at large.

Recovery

Harvard Police later retrieved the instruments--a $4000 Powell flute, a practice flute worth about $500, and two piccolos valued at about $700 each--and returned them to Shibutani yesterday.

There was no sign of forced entry to the room, according to Shibutani and police records.

The case remains under investigation, said Capt. Jack W. Morse, the police department's assistant director.

Morse said musical instruments are "not an unusual thing to steal," but such thefts are not as common as those involving bicycles and stereos. Asked the rate of recovery for stolen property, he replied, "It's not enough."

"We recover thousands of dollars worth of property, but one car can be worth thousands," Morse added. But, "among students, it's certainly a rarity" to store so much valuable property in their rooms, he said.

Shibutani explained that he carries two higher quality flutes because "It's just handy, if something's wrong with one, to have another." In addition, he explained, silver instruments are a good investment because they grow in value even when silver prices are down.

Because the Haynes and Powell companies, which manufactured the flutes, are located in Boston, the remaining flute will take only a few months to replace, Shibutani said. Otherwise, the wait for an instrument of similar quality could be as long as four or five years.

Adams House superintendent Edward Dahlstedt said that aside from the theft of Shibutani's instruments, "It's been remarkable--there haven't been any [thefts]" from the renovation-torn House.