[MSN] A $50, 000 violin that was stolen from the Billings airport in April has been recovered.

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Published on Wednesday, December 20, 2006.
Last modified on 12/20/2006 at 11:12 am

Police recover $50,000 violin taken in April
By MIKE STARK
Of The Gazette Staff

A $50,000 violin that was stolen from the Billings airport in April has been
recovered.

Violinist Evan Price said this morning that Billings police recovered his
instrument after a man tried to sell it to a violin dealer in Ontario,
Canada, "who happens to be one of my oldest friends in the business."

"It turns out he called the wrong guy," Price said.

The violin, built in 1879 in Italy by famed luthier Eugenio Praga, is in
good condition and in police custody, Price said.

Billings police scheduled a press conference this morning to discuss the
case.

Price, a violinist with the Turtle Island String Quartet, accidentally left
the violin on the curb of the Billings Logan International Airport on the
morning of April 8 after playing a concert at the Alberta Bair Theater the
night before.

By the time he noticed it was missing several hours later while the quartet
was traveling, the violin had already been swiped from the curb.

Price scoured local pawn shops in vain in the days after the violin went
missing.

He returned to his Bay Area home and eventually collected insurance on the
missing violin and bought another.

Price said he's become accustomed to the new violin and isn't sure what will
become of the Praga after it's shipped to him.

"I'm really relieved that it's safe, but I'm not sure if I'll be playing it
again," Price said.

After it went missing, Price assumed that whoever took it would try to sell
it "somewhere in the range of the next six months to 15 years."

Apparently, the man who had the violin on Monday called a violin dealer
named Ray Schryer in Ontario, a man that Price knew from his days growing up
in Michigan when he occasionally played fiddle festivals. Schryer also sold
Price one of his first violins, Price said.

Schryer was one of hundreds of people who attended a concert by the quartet
in Washington, D.C., just days before they played in Billings.

After the Praga violin was stolen, Price and his wife, with the help of the
American Federation of Violin and Bow Makers, contacted dealers and music
store owners throughout the United States and Canada. Ads were also placed
in trade magazines.

Price was stunned and relieved to get the call from Billings this morning
that his violin had been recovered. Apparently the violin had been sitting
in a closet since it was swiped from the curb.

"It's a huge relief," he said. "This whole time I've been picturing it
sitting in the back of a pickup truck somewhere." 

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