Violinist Joshua Bell recently acquired a Stradivarius with an intriguing past. Stolen multiple times, the Gibson Strad was missing for 51 years until it surfaced in 1987 after a dying man confessed to having bought it for $100 following its theft from Carnegie Hall. The insurer’s finder’s fee became embroiled in inheritance bickering, but the violin itself was bought for $1.2 million by British violinist Norbert Brainin. Bell discovered Brainin was about to sell it to a German industrialist, and quickly made a deal to purchase it himself for $4 million. A page on his website has a photo of the violin and reprint of the article.