December 24, 2011
PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (AFP) - A gifted young Taiwanese violin student faced the music after leaving a rare violin worth more than $170,000 on a bus.
Jessica Muchen Hsieh, a student at the New England Conservatory of Music, realized the violin was missing sometime after getting off a Megabus in Philadelphia on Tuesday.
On Friday, police said the out-of-tune 18-year-old's precious instrument had been recovered. "Located the lost violin," Detective Joseph Murray announced on his Twitter feed.
Made in Naples, Italy in 1835, the violin still bears the label of its maker, Vincenco Jorio. It was on loan to Muchen from the Chi Mei Culture Foundation in Taiwan.
Earlier, the distraught student had appealed on television for help.
"I'm a violin major so I really hope that the person that took it can give it back to me so I can continue my studies because right now, I can't do anything," Hsieh told local station KYW-TV.
