And finally… no strings attached

French soloist Ophelie Gaillard was forced to hand over the instrument and her mobile phone in a terrifying robbery in a Paris suburb.

Days later, she received an anonymous call which informed her that the instrument was inside a car in front of her house.

Gaillard told reporters that she indeed found the instrument outside, in the back seat of a car with a broken window. The cello is “in good condition” and police have been notified, she said.

A police source said it was unlikely that the robber was able to sell the instrument to “a fence on the corner”, The Local reports.

The cello, made in Italy in 1737, was loaned to Gaillard by CIC bank and is valued at nearly €1.3 million. The case also contained Gaillard’s bow, which was made in Paris in around 1825.