Stradivarius violin stolen more than 30 years ago in Massachusetts recovered

She added that her father had left the instrument in his office but that when he returned, it was gone.

It was stolen from its owner, famed Polish violinist Roman Totenberg, in 1980 after a performance in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Johnson moved to California and, after a less than distinguished musical career, died of cancer at the age of 58, a year before Mr Totenberg himself.

Then, on the last day in June, I got a call from Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Christopher McKeogh.

The good news behind the recovery is that the appraisal process seems to be more meticulous than those investigators were in 1980.

In a story that aired on NPR’s “Morning Edition“, Nina Totenberg said that the violin’s disappearance was a “crushing loss” for her father, who had played the instrument for decades throughout the world.

“I’m just glad that the violin, once it’s restored to its full potential again, will eventually be in the hands of another great artist”, she said.

The return ceremony was hosted by Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara, whose office prepared court papers restoring title to the Totenbergs.

A native New Yorker, Mr. Injeian studied violin making in France and Germany and won several awards in Europe. Mr. Totenberg’s violin was valued at $250,000 when it was stolen.

One, known as the Lady Blunt, fetched about US$13.5 million in a 2011 charity auction for victims of the Japanese tsunami.

The violin was recovered by the FBI, following a tip to a New York City Police Department, thanks to an appraiser who recognized the value of the sleek violin.

Photos of the violin were sent to appraiser Phillip Injeian, who checked a registry of Stradivarius violins and was able to zero on those made in 1734. Since Mr. Johnson was dead, leaving few clues about the instrument’s provenance, a musician-friend of his ex-wife’s suggested she bring it to Mr. Injeian, whose client list includes violinists Leonidas Kavakos, Nigel Kennedy, Sidney Harth and former Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra concertmaster Andres Cardenes.

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.

Injeian said he knew immediately after opening the case that the violin was Totenberg’s lost Stradivarius, describing the markings on the wood grain as “like a fingerprint” that could not be replicated. He bought the Stradivarius in 1943 and performed with it exclusively until it was stolen. Johnson was allegedly seen outside her father’s office around the time of the theft, and one of Johnson’s ex-girlfriends informed the family that she was “quite sure” that he had taken it, according to an article by Nina for NPR.

A Stradivarius violin belonging to Erika Morini was stolen from her New York apartment in 1995 by someone who had a key to the locked bedroom closet where she kept it. Morini wasn’t told about the theft before she died weeks later. Jill said that the family plans to put it in the custody of Rare Violins of New York for restoration before finding “the right person to buy and play this violin”.