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Ukrainian customs thwart attempt to smuggle Stradivarius violin into Moldova

The Odessa Region customs service disclosed that a similar instrument was discovered earlier in April of this year, with a male Ukrainian national trying to smuggle it into Bulgaria

MOSCOW, July 26. /TASS/. The State Border Guard Service of Ukraine has reported that an attempt was made to smuggle out of the country a Stradivarius violin made by the Italian master in 1730.

"A musical instrument, made in 1730, was discovered during a customs control check of a regular bus at the ‘Palanka-Mayaki-Udobnoye’ checkpoint [on the Ukrainian-Moldovan border - TASS] in the Odessa Region. […] The violin was handed over to experts," the Service said on its Telegram channel.

The attached photo shows the violin being transported in a case. The instrument bears a worn down inscription: "Stradivarius Cremonenus... Faciebat Anno 17..." ("Stradivari of Cremona… Made in the year 17…")

According to the Odessa customs service, the female Ukrainian national that attempted to smuggle the instrument into Moldova has been identified. The Odessa Region customs service disclosed that a similar instrument was discovered earlier in April of this year, with a male Ukrainian national trying to smuggle it into Bulgaria.

Antonio Stradivari (1644-1737) was a famous Italian luthier who developed his own technology for producing string instruments that feature a unique sound. About 600 instruments are in existence today; most of them are being kept in the world’s most prestigious galleries, and at auction, they can bring huge sums of money, in the millions. Scientists are still trying to unravel the mystery behind the acoustic characteristics of Stradivarius violins, presuming that the answer lies either in the special recipe of Stradivari’s lacquer that covers the instrument or in the special chemical compound that the luthier used to treat the wood.

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