Musician seeks help to recover ancient violin stolen in pub
An upset classical musician called for help, finding his 284-year-old violin from a bar in north London while he was having supper.
David Lopez Ibanez plays the Lorenzo Cacassi Riuin, worth six figures, including the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
The tool was given to him through a long-term loan.
The Spanish violinist described it as gone, “My life is torn apart. Your heart feels like it will explode.”
After rehearsing with the band, he spent a bar dinner with a friend from Canonbury, North London.
He said, “I put it next to me.”
“You have been taught such good care since you were a kid. Nothing can make you take it away.”
Ibanez’s hat fell on the floor on the top of the violin case. Someone in the bar picked up the hat and thought it belonged to the suspicious thief and chased him. Only then did they realize that the violin must be stuffed under the coat the man was wearing.
The instrument was produced in Florence in 1740 by the famous instrument manufacturer Lorenzo Carcassi.
It has been passed on to musicians for two centuries and was then purchased by a German businessman.
Eight years ago, the businessman saw Mr. Ibanez playing online and decided to lend his violin to help his career.
“It has lived for 300 years before my hands touched it. It has its own history,” Mr Ibanes said.
Losing it is like a bereavement of an old friend.
“Every hour, every show, every challenge, you get to know each other and express yourself through it.”
It is insured, but for musicians, the violin is “priceless”.
Metropolitan police have been told that it is likely to check the bar’s CCTV footage.
But violins like this are also easy to identify, making it difficult for criminals to sell.
This will be even more difficult. It has a unique feature – a tiny heart-shaped cutout on the back of the “roll” at the top of the instrument.
Richard White, one of the few violin dealers in London, has been warned of theft.
How much can a thief get?
“It’s okay,” he said. “We will do it as long as we know what we have about the instrument. If the violin is for sale, it will not leave the store.”
The violin is insured, but his biggest fear is that it will not be abandoned by people who realize their value (financially or emotionally).
Media attention is often crucial to restoring the instrument.
In 2019, musician Stephen Morris reunited with his 310-year-old violin and left a violin on the train after secret negotiations.
British Transport Police released a CCTV image in which a man believed to have adopted a violin and asked him to get in touch, prompting media appeals, including BBC breakfast.
This prompted a message on Twitter (now X) sent to Mr. Morris from someone who claimed to know the man.
In the next 24 hours, further contacts were made with the message sender and are now suspected of taking a violin.
The man called himself “gene”, not his real name, agreed to meet Morris in a Whiteros parking lot near Beckenham Railway Station.
Musician’s friend and former police officer Mike Pannett gathered a plainclothes policeman on standby.
However, there is no need for all the laws, because the described “gentleman exchange” happens.
