Musician ‘thankful’ after £16,000 flute lost on train turns up in pawn shop

Donald Rabin plays the flute after Detective George Hilbring retrieved and returned it to him during a news conference at the 14th District Police Station on Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021. Rabin was riding a Blue Line train from O’Hare International Airport during a layover before his return to the Berklee College of Music in Boston. When he got off, he realized he’d left behind his flute. (Pat Nabong/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)

Anyone who has left so much as a hat on a Chicago Transit Authority train knows that whatever leaves the station without its owner is often gone forever.

Except, apparently, a gold and silver flute worth 22,000 dollars (£16,000).