A 316‑Year‑Old Stradivarius May Have Been Found
By Yuming Chen
An extraordinary violin crafted in 1709 by Antonio Stradivari—once owned by the Mendelssohn‑Bohnke family—has remained missing since World War II. The family stored it in a Berlin bank vault, but Soviet troops looted it during the chaotic occupation in 1945.
For decades, the family placed ads, filed police reports, and desperately searched for the priceless violin. In 2018, experts concluded that the missing instrument resurfaced under a new identity. At a Tokyo Stradivarius exhibition, cultural property scholar Carla Shapreau recognized strikingly similar ding patterns, scratches, and wood grain on a violin labeled “Stella,” which dated to about 1707. Jason Price, founder of the auction house Tarisio, reviewed sale photos from 2000 and confirmed they matched. “They obviously are the same,” he said, pointing to identical wear patterns. A violin expert at Paris’s Musée de la Musique described the comparison as “striking and very convincing,” noting that no two centuries‑old violins share precisely the same signs of use.
The violin, now owned by Japanese musician Eijin Nimura, appeared publicly as “Stella” around 2005. Nimura continues to play it and has not responded to claims about its wartime theft. His lawyer stated that Nimura bought the violin in good faith from a Paris dealer in 2005 and insisted he had no knowledge of its disputed history. Nimura’s goodwill and lack of wrongdoing are well documented in the purchase records.
The Mendelssohn‑Bohnke descendants are seeking a resolution. David Rosenthal, Franz von Mendelssohn’s great‑grandson, said he first recognized his family’s violin by its distinctive patterns and recalled the shock that it had been “hiding in plain sight” for 80 years. “It was hiding in plain sight,” he told Le Monde, reflecting on the reemergence of this heirloom.
This case highlights how difficult it can be to track rare cultural items when provenance records remain incomplete or misleading. For example, other Nazi‑looted instruments have circulated under false identities for decades, complicating restitution efforts. Experts estimate that only about 500 of Stradivari’s instruments survive today, and many sell for over $20 million.
Currently, legal ownership remains unresolved. Nimura retains possession, and no court has ruled on a rightful claim. The discovery raises pressing questions about how to return looted cultural property—and how to balance rightful ownership with good‑faith acquisition.
If confirmed, this finding would end an 80‑year mystery and reunite a treasured instrument with its original family, though only if Nimura and the Mendelssohn descendants reach an agreement or a court establishes rightful ownership.
