Poster Stephen Morris with returned violin
Stephen Morris kisses his 1709 violin, which was returned on Saturday.
Stephen Morris/Twitter

310-year-old violin returned to musician who left it on train

On Oct. 22, Violinist Stephen Morris took the train home after a day of recording at Abbey Road studios in London and got off at his regular stop.

The next morning, he realized he had accidentally left his 310-year-old violin on the train.

The instrument, made by master craftsman David Tecchler in 1709, is worth £250,000, or more than $320,000 USD.

Morris quickly contacted the authorities, and a search started for the violin. CCTV footage was released of the suspect who took the instrument. Soon after, a man sent a private message to Morris on Twitter saying he recognized the suspect.

After some back-and-forth communications, a hand-off was scheduled for Nov. 2, with officers in plain clothes nearby, in case anything went wrong.

The suspect, 'Gene,' said that he had made a mistake.

"He was very apologetic, he said he wanted to hand it to me in person," Morris told the BBC.

After having the violin returned to him, Morris performed a beautiful arrangement of 'Amazing Grace' on the BBC.

This isn't the first time a musician has forgotten a valuable instrument on public transportation. The New York Times noted that a violinist left her $2.6 million Stradivarius on a train in western Germany and even Yo-Yo Ma forgot his cello in the back of a taxi in 1999.

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