Musician appeals for return of £180,000 violin
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Musician appeals for return of £180,000 violin
An amateur musician has launched a plea for the return of a precious family heirloom – a 17th-century Italian violin worth £180,000.
Robert Napier, 67, was returning to Bedwyn, Somerset from London,
where he had taken the instrument for valuation. But the retired
shipping consultant was distraught when he realised he had left the
rare Goffriller violin on a luggage rack. He alerted rail staff who
searched carriages - but to no avail.
'When I put it on the luggage rack, I thought I couldn't
possibly forget it,' he said. 'I wouldn't say I was a
particularly forgetful person.'
Mr Napier, who co-owns the instrument with his four siblings, is
hoping for its safe return after his insurance company offered a
£10,000 reward.
The violin, which was crafted in Venice by luthier Matteo
Goffriller, has been in Napier's family for a century. The
instrument once entertained troops during World War II, when his
mother Elizabeth Hunt performed with the Ebsworth Quartet.
The missing Goffriller and its bow, marked 'R Sartory', was
in a brown case bearing the name Elizabeth Napier.
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