It seemed almost too mysterious to be true: A fiddle believed to have been owned by country music legend Roy Acuff went up for auction last week in the humblest of locales: the charitable organization Goodwill.
As it turns out—probably not to anyone’s surprise—the donation turned out to be accidental, and the fiddle has been returned to its rightful owner.
The Kansas City Star reported that Goodwiil’s Western Missouri and Eastern Kansas location received the instrument from an anonymous donor. Gary Rains, who runs Goodwill’s e-commerce program in Kansas City, noted at the time, “We have no information on the owner. They just donated it and moved on.”
The organization put the fiddle up for auction online, where bids quickly topped $8,000. However, according to the Star, a member of the family that mistakenly donated the fiddle asked to have it returned after the bidding began.
“Goodwill appreciates how valuable this fiddle is to music lovers,” Kevin Bentley, interim president and CEO of Goodwill of Western Missouri & Eastern Kansas, said in a statement. “It is also a family heirloom that came into our possession by mistake. Because of that, we have honored the request to return the item.”
Acuff died in 1992 at age 89. He was the first living inductee into the Country Music Hall of Fame, and was best known for hits such as “Wabash Cannonball and “Tennessee Waltz.”
Artists in the Country Music Hall of Fame
This Article Was Originally Posted at www.TasteofCountry.com
http://tasteofcountry.com/goodwill-returns-roy-acuff-fiddle/
