A rare violin worth  nearly $2 million dollars has been recovered by British police.

The 1696  Stradivarius was  stolen from an acclaimed musician when she stopped for a snack in London almost three years ago.

South Korean violinist Min-Jin Kym  was eating at a sandwich shop in November 2010 when she noticed that her black violin case containing the 300-year-old Stradivarius was missing.

The violin is one of only around 400 in the world. It was stolen along with two bows.

Officers recovered the instrument intact with minor damage – in its case along with the bows – at a property in central England last week.

Two people have been jailed over the theft.

The virtuoso violinist says she went from “devastation to elation” after police told her of the find.

 Kym now has the chance to buy back the instrument from the London-based insurer which paid out – following its theft in 2010. 

Kym  began playing the violin at the age of  six and made her international debut with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra when she was 13.

She became the youngest ever musician to receive a foundation scholarship at the prestigious Royal College of Music at the age of 16.