By Alex Eliseev
Marita Alexander clips open the violin case. Nestled inside the faded blue velvet lies a family treasure she has been hunting for since 1997.
A rare, 18th- century Carl Friedrich Lippold violin stolen from her son Waldo when he was a student nine years ago.
While Waldo, now 29, has pursued his music career with a modern violin, his mother never gave up hope of retrieving the family's treasure - even when the police case was closed.
The violin is now safe in her arms, and seems undamaged despite eventually landing up in the US. She runs her finger along a distinct, and familiar, kink in the wooden grain of the 220-year-old instrument.
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Last month, the Cape Times reported on the violin being traced to New York, and how police were preparing to call in Interpol to help return in to its owners. The thief is believed to have sold it for a mere R1 200 while the New Yorker paid R15 000 for the violin.
On Monday, Marita travelled to Pretoria to take back the violin Waldo inherited when he was just 11.
She had struck up a deal with the man who had sold it abroad, not knowing it was being sought by police.
"It doesn't feel real yet," Alexander said, holding the precious violin. "But in a way it feels like it never left. It's home now."
Alexander said she left a cheque for R15 000 with the woman who eventually handed over the 1786 instrument.
Alexander will finally be able to tell her mother-in-law, who passed down the violin to Waldo and lives in Germany, that their priceless family treasure was missing for almost 10 years. Until now, the Johannesburg family hadn't the heart to tell her.
After years of silence, the violin - believed to be one of Lippold's earliest works - suddenly popped up on an Internet site, where it was spotted by Waldo in February.
The following month, Marita hired private detective Christian Botha to track down the violin.
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This article was originally published on page 7 of Cape Times on July 19, 2006
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