New York

A PRICELESS Stradivarius stolen 35 years ago from an American concert violinist was back in the hands of his heirs on Thursday - a happy ending to a long-running mystery cracked by a luthier's keen expert eye.

The violin - made in 1734 and estimated to be worth US$5 million - had been lifted in May 1980 from the office of Roman Totenberg at the Longy School of Music near Boston, where he taught. Mr Totenberg died in 2012 at the age of 101 after a life that saw the Polish-born virtuoso, who emigrated to the United States in 1938, perform with a host of major American symphony orchestras.