A Pretoria musician who forgot an 85-year-old violin on the Gautrain got an early Christmas present when the prized instrument was recovered.
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A Pretoria musician who last week forgot a R50 000, 85-year-old violin on the Gautrain got an early Christmas present when the prized instrument was recovered - with a little help from a friend.
Herman Steyn, a former member of famed South African act DNA Strings, was boarding a flight to Cape Town last Monday when he realised he had left his Hawkes and Son violin on the Gautrain, which he had used to get to the airport from Pretoria.
“I felt ice cold. I am a musician, so my instrument is very important to me. I thought to myself, ‘That’s the end. All my savings are going to go into a new instrument’,” said Steyn, who was on his way to attend his cousin’s wedding in Cape Town.
“I was busy phoning the Gautrain call centre when I noticed someone was actually phoning me,” explained the 28-year-old. That someone was Liezl Clayton, a friend of Steyn who teaches music at Midstream College.
“I had left her business card inside my violin’s case, so when Gautrain security personnel found it, they phoned her and she in turn contacted me,” he said.
Although greatly relieved his friend had recovered the instrument, Steyn, who started playing the violin at the age of 9, was now faced with the task of finding another one for his time in Cape Town.
“It was a bit hard to get hold of a violin. Luckily, I studied in Stellenbosch, so I had friends there who could lend me one,” he said.
Steyn said he was usually very careful with his instrument.
“I am used to travelling a lot, but as I was travelling with my wife and a friend, we had a lot of luggage and I just forgot about the violin on the top shelf,” he said. “From now on, I will put my contact details on its case, and I am going to keep it on me at all times.”
The violin was manufactured by London-based Hawkes and Son, which was founded in 1865 by William Henry Hawkes.
The company is now one of the world’s leading makers and suppliers of musical instruments. - Pretoria News Weekend