Missing 18th century violin recovered

At a glance

A passer-by saw the blue violin case and notified workers at the church who contacted police.

San Francisco investigators then re-interviewed Sabina Rhee-Nakajima, 23, of San Francisco, who promptly admitted making up the story. Police would not detail where exactly the violin had been for the past few days, but they did confirm that Rhee-Nakajima had filed a false police report.

"Nobody’s been arrested at this point,” Gittens said Friday afternoon.

The original story

Rhee-Nakajima told police Wednesday that an expensive violin — along with her wallet and iPod — were gone when she picked up her vehicle from a private tow company.

She said she had locked the instrument in the trunk of her car, which had been parked too long at a supermarket parking lot in the city’s Fillmore district and was towed.

Rhee-Nakajima did not return repeated phone calls from The Associated Press.

On Thursday, she appeared on various television stations, pleading with any members of the public who knew the whereabouts of the violin to contact police.

That plea turned out to be hollow.

Aftermath

"It’s still an open case. The inspectors will present this case to the district attorney’s office next week,” Gittens said. He said the owner of the violin has been notified that the instrument is back in safe hands.

The police had the violin on display for reporters Friday afternoon.

It lay in a light blue case with dark blue lining. Three bows, some cloths and a humidity detector also were inside the case.

Oddly, the name on the aging label inside the violin body does not match the maker’s name provided to the police as "Nicolo Gagalino.”

The label inside the violin reads "Nicolaus Gagliano” and indicates the instrument was made in 1761.

True value

Christopher Reuning, an expert appraiser of stringed instruments, said an authentic Gagliano violin would fetch a steep price.

"He’s the most important Neapolitan maker,” Reuning said Friday.

"For a violin, that’s sort of a conservative price for some of the makers.”

Police said the owner told them he had contact with his insurance company when the violin was still missing.

But Reuning, president of Boston-based Ruening & Son Violins, cautioned that even though the violin may have been insured, the insurance company would likely not be on the hook for the loss.

"Usually, violins are not insured if they’re left in an unattended motor vehicle,” Reuning said.