--- title: Million-Dollar Stradivarius Violin Stolen, Recovered—Then Found to Be Fake description: Two years ago, violinist Min-Jin Kym had a prized Stradivarius stolen from her at a Pret A Manger sandwich shop in London. Earlier this week,... canonical: https://time.com/archive/7119432/million-dollar-stradivarius-violin-stolen-recovered-then-found-to-be-fake/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2013-03-27T15:44:33.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-25T05:56:36.526Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Million-Dollar Stradivarius Violin Stolen, Then Found—Then Found to Be Fake og:description: A violin recovered in Bulgaria wasn't the real thing og:url: https://time.com/archive/7119432/million-dollar-stradivarius-violin-stolen-recovered-then-found-to-be-fake/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2a22cccfc99357d2/698a8f0c457a524f2ad6ffcc/mjk.jpg?branch=production&width=1004&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1004 og:image:height: 565 og:image:alt: Britain Stolen Violin og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Million-Dollar Stradivarius Violin Stolen, Then Found—Then Found to Be Fake twitter:description: A violin recovered in Bulgaria wasn't the real thing twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2a22cccfc99357d2/698a8f0c457a524f2ad6ffcc/mjk.jpg?branch=production&width=1004&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) # Million-Dollar Stradivarius Violin Stolen, Recovered—Then Found to Be Fake > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Mar 27, 2013 3:44 PM UTC  An undated image released by the British Transport Police on Thursday Dec. 23, 2010, of a 1697 Stradivarius violin. Three people were arrested for stealing a 1.2 million-pound ($1.85 million) antique violin from a musician while she stopped for a snack at a London sandwich bar, British police said Thursday. South Korean violinist Min-Jin Kym was eating inside the sandwich shop outside Euston station on Nov. 29 when she noticed that her black violin case \_ whch contained the 300-year-old Stradivarius as well as two expensive bows \_ was missing, police said. The violin, made in 1696, is one of only around 400 in the world. It was stolen along with a Peccatte bow, valued at 62,000 pounds, and another bow worth more than 5,000 pounds. (AP Photo/British Transport Police) An undated image released by the British Transport Police on Thursday Dec. 23, 2010, of a 1697 Stradivarius violin. Three people were arrested for stealing a 1.2 million-pound ($1.85 million) antique violin from a musician while she stopped for a snack at a London sandwich bar, British police said Thursday. South Korean violinist Min-Jin Kym was eating inside the sandwich shop outside Euston station on Nov. 29 when she noticed that her black violin case \_ whch contained the 300-year-old Stradivarius as well as two expensive bows \_ was missing, police said. The violin, made in 1696, is one of only around 400 in the world. It was stolen along with a Peccatte bow, valued at 62,000 pounds, and another bow worth more than 5,000 pounds. (AP Photo/British Transport Police) ASSOCIATED PRESS—AP2010 by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Mar 27, 2013 3:44 PM UTC Two years ago, violinist Min-Jin Kym had a prized Stradivarius [stolen](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/music-news/8185866/1.2m-Stradivarius-violin-stolen-while-world-famous-musician-was-eating.html) from her at a Pret A Manger sandwich shop in London. Earlier this week, she received some good news: her violin had been found. Today, a new (and sad) wrinkle. As the UK-based _Telegraph_—which has been following the story from the beginning—[reports](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/9956668/Recovery-of-stolen-1.2m-Stradivarius-violin-ends-in-disappointment.html), the violin recovered in Bulgaria was, if fact, a replica that was only decades, rather than centuries old. The real instrument, made by Antonio Stradivarius in the late-17th century, is worth £1.2 million—about $1.8 million—according to _The Telegraph._ A reward of more than $45,000 has been offered for the return of the instrument and the bows that were also in the case at the time of the theft. (The thief was [apprehended](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/8357217/Thieves-offered-to-sell-1.2-million-Stradivarius-violin-for-100-court-told.html) in 2011 after trying to sell the violin for a pittance, apparently unaware of its value.) The British Transport Police released a [statement](http://www.btp.presscentre.com/Media-Releases/Bulgaria-1-2m-Stradivarius-discovery-ruled-out-as-appeal-with-30-000-reward-continues-1fbc.aspx) about the fake Stradivarius on Mar. 27, ruling out its involvement in the Min-Jin Kym case: --- > “” --- (**VIDEO**: [10 Questions for Violinist Joshua Bell](http://www.time.com/time/video/player/0,32068,2147278579001%5F2135722,00.html)) It’s not the first time a Stradivarius—of which there are only a few hundred violin, violas, and cello in the world—has made the news. Perhaps the most famous recent case was of Yo-Yo Ma leaving a Stradivarius cello in a New York City taxi in [1999](http://www.nytimes.com/1999/10/17/nyregion/in-concert-searchers-retrieve-yo-yo-ma-s-lost-stradivarius.html); it was quickly recovered. Not every story has a happy ending, though: the Davidoff-Morini Stradivarius, a $3 million violin that was taken from a New York apartment in 1995, is still on the [FBI’s Top Ten Art Crimes](http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/vc%5Fmajorthefts/arttheft/davidoff) list. In 2012, the story of that instrument became an Off-Broadway play, _The Morini Strad._ And as British police have pointed out, media attention is not the only thing that sets a Stradivarius theft apart. Because the instruments are so famous, stolen pieces cannot be resold to legitimate dealers—which means that, despite the huge value on the violin, the item could earn relatively little money for whoever has it now. (**MORE**: [Accidental Genius: Why a Stradivarius Sounds So Good](http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1878425,00.htm)) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7119432/million-dollar-stradivarius-violin-stolen-recovered-then-found-to-be-fake/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7119432/million-dollar-stradivarius-violin-stolen-recovered-then-found-to-be-fake/"},"headline":"Million-Dollar Stradivarius Violin Stolen, Recovered—Then Found to Be Fake","datePublished":"2013-03-27T15:44:33.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-25T05:56:36.526Z","description":"Two years ago, violinist Min-Jin Kym had a prized Stradivarius stolen from her at a Pret A Manger sandwich shop in London. 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