Stolen Stradivarius Violin Found After 35 Years
A Stradivarius violin which disappeared 35 years ago has been found after it was handed in by the ex-wife of a man suspected of stealing it.
The instrument was taken from the office of the virtuoso violinist Roman Totenberg in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1980.
It was reported stolen after it was taken from Longy Music School but police did not believe there was enough evidence to pursue the chief suspect.
The violin - today worth millions - remained missing until it was discovered by chance in the belongings of Phillip Johnson after he died.
Johnson's ex-wife broke the lock on the case and pulled out the stringed instrument and saw it had a label on that said it was made in 1734 by the most famous violin maker of all time, Antonio Stradivari.
When she got in touch with a violin expert, she was shocked to be told that it was indeed one of only 550 Stradivariuses left in the world, but it had been reported stolen.
Violin appraiser Phillip Injeian confirmed that it was the Ames Stradivarius, so-called because it had been played by the violinist George Ames in the late 1800s.
He told US public service broadcaster NPR: "I opened the case and looked at the instrument (and) checked it out for over a half hour before I said anything.
"And I said these words: 'Well, I've got good news for you, and I've got bad news for you. The good news is that this is a Stradivarius. The bad news it was stolen 35, 36 years ago from Roman Totenberg'."
The FBI's Art Team contacted one of Mr Totenberg's daughters, Nina.
She wrote on the NPR website: "I got a call from FBI Special Agent Christopher McKeogh. 'We believe that the FBI has recovered your father's stolen violin,' he said.
"I had a hard time actually believing it. I called my sisters right away and we were soon laughing and crying on the phone."
She revealed her father had always suspected Johnson had stolen the violin but had been unable to convince the authorities to execute a search warrant.
Johnson had been an aspiring violinist who had been seen outside Mr Totenberg's office.
Ms Totenberg said Johnson eventually moved to California and had an undistinguished musical career and died aged 58, a year before her father passed away in 2012, aged 101.
The violin is due to be returned to Mr Totenberg's daughters Nina, Jill and Amy on Thursday after an agreement in the US federal court that saw them agreeing to pay back the $250,000 insurance money their father received after its theft.
For violin historians it solves a mystery and leaves just one Stradivarius unaccounted for - the Davidoff-Morini Strad - which was taken from the apartment of violinist Erica Morini in 1995.
