Saturday, December 24, 2011

Seeking A Christmas Miracle

US police have issued an appeal to help a top music academy student recover a $170,000 (£108,000) violin she left on a bus in the city of Philadelphia.

Muchen Hsieh said she only realised afterwards she had left the 176-year-old instrument in an overhead compartment  when the journey ended.

The 18-year-old boarded the Megabus coach in Boston with the Naples-made violin on Tuesday, police said.

A cultural foundation in her native Taiwan had loaned her the instrument.

"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," Ms Hsieh told a local television station.

The New England Conservatory student said the bus company told her the instrument had not been found.


The police have said anyone who wants to return the violin can do so "with no questions asked" but it's hard to know if knowing the real value of the violin will encourage an honest person to speak up, or a criminal to start shopping for a buyer.

I hate to see a violin like that lost, so we'll hope for the former.


And we officially have a miracle.  The bus company found the instrument in a holding area, and she was reunited with her violin.  I can't even imagine how sick she must have been, to know that something so valuable and in your care was gone.  Now she can have some peace, and I bet she never ever leaves without it in her grasp.

It's more common than you think, you hear about the occasional violin left in a cab, on a bus or a train.  Thank God for honest people!

No comments:

Post a Comment