Don Emmert / AFP / Getty Images file A 1729 Stradivarius known as the Solomon, Ex-Lambert 
 
 A 300-year-old Stradivarius worth millions of dollars was stolen from a concert violinist by thieves who shot the musician with an electric stun gun just after he had performed with the instrument in suburban Milwaukee, police said on Tuesday. 
 
 "It appears the violin was the primary target of this robbery," Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn told reporters, adding that the two thieves were seen fleeing the scene of the crime in a minivan. 
 
 The so-called Lipinski Stradivarius, an instrument made in 1715 and distinguished by unique striations on its back, was stolen on Monday night at a college campus in Wauwatosa, immediately west of Milwaukee, Flynn said. 
 
 The instrument was on loan to violinist Frank Almond of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra when it was taken from him following a performance, Flyn said. 
 
 Police said Almond was subdued with a stun gun fired at him by one of the thieves, who then jumped into the waiting getaway vehicle driven by another suspect. 
 
 Violins such as the one stolen can sell for $5 million to $10 million, Flynn said. He added that the FBI has entered the Lipinski into its international art theft database. 
 
 "This violin is very valuable, but very valuable to a very small population," Flynn said in a news conference carried by ABC affiliate WISN on its website. "This is not something that can be easily sold for even a fraction of its monetary value." 
 
 Milwaukee Orchestra president Mark Niehaus said rare instruments such as the stolen Stradivarius are in circulation because they "need to be played to live on." 
 
 The missing instrument is one of roughly 600 violins, violas and cellos built by the famed Italian maker Antonio Stradivari that are still in existence. 
 
 Korean-born classical musician Min-Jin Kym's 300-year-old Stradivarius violin was snatched in November 2010 when she stopped at a London restaurant to buy a sandwich. That instrument was found three years later and sold at auction for $2.3 million in December, according to the BBC. 
 
 A rare Stradivarius violin that once belonged to the granddaughter of English poet Lord Byron sold for $15.9 million in 2011 at a charity auction for Japanese disaster relief. ||||| A 300-year-old Stradivarius violin on loan to Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra concertmaster Frank Almond was stolen during an armed robbery after a performance by Almond at Wisconsin Lutheran College, Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn said Tuesday. 
 
 Almond was attacked with a stun gun and robbed of the instrument — Flynn said it was valued in the "high seven figures" — shortly before 10:30 p.m. Monday in a parking lot in the rear of the school, 8815 W. Wisconsin Ave., the chief said at a news conference. 
 
 As Almond lay on the pavement the robber fled to a nearby vehicle, described as a maroon or burgundy minivan driven by an accomplice, which then left the scene, Flynn said. 
 
 Almond had played a concert Monday evening at Wisconsin Lutheran as part of his Frankly Music series. 
 
 "The artistic heritage of Milwaukee was assaulted and robbed last night," Flynn told reporters during the conference at the Police Administration Building. 
 
 Investigators believe the instrument, known in musical circles as the Lipinski Stradivarius, was the primary target of the robbery, Flynn said. 
 
 In a 2008 feature on the violin, Chicago violin dealer Stefan Hersh said the Lipinski violin was comparable in value to another Strad that sold for more than $3.5 million in a 2006 auction. 
 
 Flynn, who described the violin taken in the robbery as "priceless," said its value could only be appreciated by a very small population. 
 
 "It can't be easily sold for even a fraction of its value," he said. "These are wildly valuable to a tiny slice of the art world." 
 
 The violin was crafted in 1715 in Cremona, Italy, and has a unique pattern on its back. 
 
 Though police have not ruled out that the robbery was a random street crime, they are working with investigators with the FBI's art crimes team based in Quantico, Va., which specializes in high-end art thefts, and have notified Interpol, the International Criminal Police Organization, Flynn said. 
 
 "This is a potentially international crime," Flynn said, adding that investigators are searching everywhere from pawn shops to international databases. 
 
 He described the vehicle used in the robbery as similar to a late 1980s or early 1990s maroon or burgundy Plymouth or Dodge Caravan. 
 
 Mark Niehaus, MSO president and executive director, said Almond was recovering from the attack and would not be on stage this weekend. 
 
 The instrument was on indefinite loan to Almond from its anonymous owners. Almond has characterized them as people with "strong ties to Milwaukee." It's a common practice in the music world for the owners of such exquisite instruments to lend them to virtuosos such as Almond. 
 
 The violin's early owners included the virtuoso Giuseppe Tartini (1692-1770), known to listeners for his "Devil's Trill" Sonata. The instrument has also belonged to Polish violinist Karol Lipinski (1790-1861), whose name has stayed attached to it. 
 
 Local music writer Elaine Schmidt, who held the instrument during a 2013 interview with Almond, described it as "light, far lighter than one would expect, and an absolutely gorgeous example of craftsmanship." 
 
 During that 2013 interview, Almond explained that the Lipinski is "finicky" about temperature and humidity, responding differently some days than others. 
 
 "One of the really mysterious things about these instruments is that they really maximize our strengths if we can figure out how to play them," he said. He added that the Lipinski, which he began playing in 2008, has a counterintuitive way of tightening and narrowing its sound as the player exerts more bow pressure. 
 
 "It's like a high performance car," he said. "You have to learn to drive it." 
 
 Almond said in a previous interview that he was told the violin had been stored in a vault at M&I Bank, now BMO Harris Bank, just a short distance from where Almond was playing with the MSO. He met the violin owners at the bank, and they asked him if he wanted to play it on loan. Of course, he said yes. 
 
 Niehaus said that because the violin is made of wood, "it needs to be touched, it needs to be played." 
 
 "The vibrations of the music keep it alive." 
 
 Almond conducted a Kickstarter campaign to fund "A Violin's Life," a recording that memorialized the history of the violin. 
 
 In 2013, British Transport Police recovered a stolen 300-year-old Stadivarius violin that had been missing for more than two years. 
 
 To call in a tip 
 
 Anyone with information on the vehicle or the robbery is asked to call Milwaukee police at (414) 935-7360. Those who wish to remain anonymous can call the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra at (414) 226-7838.
– One of the most valuable instruments in the world was stolen Monday by a robber who used a stun gun on the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra's concertmaster in a parking lot before making off his with his priceless Stradivarius violin. "The artistic heritage of Milwaukee was assaulted and robbed last night," the city's police chief told reporters, estimating the 300-year-old instrument's value in the "high seven figures," reports the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. The Lipinski Stradivarius, which was on indefinite loan from its anonymous owners, is wildly valuable only to a "tiny slice of the art world," the police chief says. "It can't be easily sold for even a fraction of its value." Police haven't ruled out the theft being a random street robbery, but they suspect it may have been stolen to order and are working with the FBI's art crimes unit. The orchestra's president says rare instruments like the Stradivarius, one of only around 600 in existence, are still in circulation because they "need to be played to live on," NBC reports.