The label named Antonio Stradivari. The year was 1734.
That alone proved nothing. Thousands of ordinary violins carry Stradivarius labels.
A musician friend put the woman in touch with Phillip Injeian, a violin maker and appraiser in Pittsburgh. Injeian checked a registry of known Stradivari violins.
It listed a violin from 1734 called the Ames. It had been stolen, and it had never been recovered.