A violin by the famous master Antonio Stradivari stolen during World War II has been found in Tokyo, The New York Times reported.
The "Mendelssohn" instrument was made in 1709 and given to the Mendelssohn-Bohnke family for safekeeping, but it disappeared during the war and the family tried unsuccessfully to find it.
The violin was identified by cultural specialist Carla Chapro. She was looking at photos from an exhibition of Stradivari instruments that took place in Japan in 2018. There, the violin is named Stella and is said to have been made in 1707.
The expert compared the photos with images of the original and determined that it was a Mendelssohn, based on the wood grain. The instrument was sold at auction in New York in 2000 and was estimated at $1.5 million. As of 2021, there are approximately 650 instruments made by Stradivari left in the world, including about 450 violins.