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Violin Passed Down for Generations Stolen From Windsor Home

A Windsor family is hoping for help tracking down a stolen family heirloom.

When burglars broke into a Windsor family’s home, they stole the obvious things of value - cash, credit cards, and jewelry - but they also walked away with something priceless - a late 1800s French violin passed down for generations.

Tim Lawrence hopes the public can help reunite him with his family’s prized possession

The violin is a family heirloom passed down for generations since it was gifted to his great-grandfather.

Lawrence came home from a Monday movie matinee when he knew something was wrong.

“Every drawer was open and things were on the floor and rifled through, and I looked into the music room over here and I realized my violin and its case were gone from the couch.”

Lawrence says the suspects used a crow bar to break the lock on his downstairs slider door.

“When the robbery happened and I realized it was gone, it hit the deepest. It’s like I lost a limb. It was like something was taken that’s a part of me.”

The thieves ignored many of Lawrence’s other instruments in his music room and just left with his favorite.

“I have no idea. Maybe they just took a shine to it because they saw it? It was out of the case, which I don’t normally do, but I left the house for a few hours, you don’t think about things like that.”

Now he’s hoping someone will find the fiddle, so he can continue his family’s tradition of passing his great-grandfather’s violin down to his kids.

“Gold pocket watch that my wife gave me on our first trip to Ireland together has meaning to me, but the memory of that, it’s not something that will go away, so I still feel that, but I want my fiddle back that’s a different story.”

If you happen to stumble upon the special violin at a pawn shop or perhaps for sale online, the Lawrence family would love it if you called Windsor Police.

Here are some defining details of their violin that Lawrence posted on his Facebook: : late 1800s French violin with "Conservatory Violin" carved into the back of the scroll (top part with pegs), with a small burn mark at top left f-hole (campfire ember, alas), lighter maple with striking striping on the back. One bow with "FP Brown" engraved on the frog (handle part). Another bow nondescript German. The case is distinctive: Calton flight case, burgundy color, heavy, rectangular. There are three red sea turtles on top middle of case. If the nameplate is still on it, it says T. Lawrence with a Maine 207 phone number.

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