VIENNA, May 29 (RIA Novosti) - A violin by the famous Italian craftsman Antonio Stradivari has been stolen from an Austrian musician's apartment along with other personal belongings, Austrian television channels reported Tuesday.
The rare, centuries-old instrument, worth an estimated 2.5 million euros ($3.25 million), was reportedly one of two violins taken from a safe by burglars who broke into the musician's house in his absence last weekend.
The value of the other stolen instrument, a violin by an unidentified maker, was put at 120,000 euros ($156,000).
The owner also reported some of his jewelry and electronic appliances missing.
Instruments by the world's best-known violinmaker, who lived between 1644 and 1736, fetch increasingly high prices at auctions these days. A concertizing Stradivarius sold for more than $2.7 million at Christie's this past April, and another rare example went for more than $3.5 million at a sale last year.
