A 316-year-old Stolen Stradivarius just resurfaced

After World War II ended, Germany was in chaos. During that time, a rare violin made in 1709 was stolen from a bank in Berlin. The family searched for the multi-million-dollar violin, which is also known as Mendelssohn, placing ads and filing reports to German authorities. Still no luck recovering the violin.

Recently, a cultural property scholar, Carla Shapreau, found photos from a 2018 exhibition of Stradivarius instruments in Tokyo that had an instrument called the Stella, made in 1709. The Stella had many similarities with the Mendelssohn. For example, both had similar wood grain patterns, and the violin’s torso had similar contours and curves.

Jason Price, the founder of Tarisio, an auction house, had a Stradivarius violin that was dated to 1707 and valued at between $1.2 million and $1.5 million, showing that the violin was very valuable. The violin passed through his auction house in 2000, but it failed to sell. After reviewing the violin’s photos in Tarisio’s archive and other images of the Mendelssohn, he and other experts think they are the same.

Jason Price even said that “When you look at the photographs side by side, you see the peculiarities of the wear patterns, the dings, the dents, the scratches. It is the same violin. There’s no question about that, and I don’t think anyone would have a reasonable case in saying they aren’t.” (Explain the quote here)

Stradivari made over 1000 stringed instruments from his shop in Cremona, Italy. His violins are known for their lush sounds and visual beauty. Some of his violins that were owned by famous virtuosos have sold for up to $20 million.

Eijin Nimura, who is 54, is a musician and an artist for peace at the United Nations cultural organization. He has talked about the instrument on social media and at the 2018 exhibition in Tokyo, calling it the Stella. When Shapreau tried to reach out to him starting in the Fall of 2024, he refused to discuss it further.

Instead of speaking to Nimura, Shapreau got a response from Yoshie Tsuruta, of the Peaceful International Law Firm in Tokyo and Nimura’s lawyer, who wrote, “We have no information regarding this, including any factual basis that any of your allegations would have any merit… Mr. Nimura is a bona fide purchaser of the instrument for valuable consideration. The instrument belongs to Mr. Nimura.”

The instrument had belonged to Franz von Mendelssohn, but after the Nazis rose, Jews had trouble getting expensive items out of the country, like The Stradivarius. The Stradivarius was placed in storage at the Mendelssohn Bank, which was acquired by Deutsche Bank. After the Soviets took control of the city, they also took the bank. It is unknown when the violin left its safe.

Shapreau thinks a Russian violinist wanted to sell a violin to Bernard Sabatier, a Paris luthier, in 1995. The Russian violinist bought the violin from a German dealer in Moscow in 1953. Sabatier thought the violin was made in 1707, two years off, but Shapreau believed it was a misread, or the violin had been tampered with. The violin was sold through a Swiss dealer.

In 2000, the violin reached Tarisio, where it was photographed but failed to sell due to the dot-com bubble burst and market uncertainty. By 2005, the Nimura had the violin according to business records. Machold Rare Violins made a certificate of authenticity the same year Nimura had the violin. The 2005 statement of the violin’s history on the dealership’s letterhead said the Stella had been “in the possession of a noble family which has been living in Holland since the times of the French Revolution.”

When David Rosenthal, who represented the Mendelssohn-Bohnke family, tried to reach out to Nimura by saying Nimura invented a fictional identity for the violin. However, Tsuruta responded by accusing Rosenthal and Shapreau of harassing Nimura. Also, he told them, “You are interfering with and causing tremendous distress and anguish to Mr. Nimura and his rights and well-being…You are threatening Mr. Nimura to do what he has no obligation to do.” He also ordered them to cease and desist in March of 2025. The violin is estimated to be worth $5 million, but Rosenthal said it was more than just material loss. “The violin is part of us. Music is part and parcel of our family. We just want a resolution.”

Great work 🙂

Sources:

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/06/arts/music/the-hunt-for-a-316-year-old-stradivarius-stolen-in-the-fog-of-war.html

https://tarisio.com/cozio-archive/cozio-carteggio/hiding-in-plain-sight-the-case-of-the-stolen-mendelssohn-stradivari/