A dramatic anniversary

Thanks to Enda Donnelly for pointing out that Wednesday (13 November) was the anniversary of the day in 1985 when an intruder broke into the home of Bill Monroe, took a poker, and inflicted very serious damage on his main instrument, the 1923 Lloyd Loar Gibson F-5 mandolin #73987 (shown above), and another F-5. An almost miraculous restoration was carried out by Charlie Derrington, and #73987 was reunited with Monroe on 25 February 1986. The episode was described by Richard Thompson on Bluegrass Today.