A distraught classical musician has appealed for help to find his 284-year old violin stolen from a pub in north London while he was having dinner.

David Lopez Ibanez plays the Lorenzo Cacassi violin, worth a six-figure sum, in orchestras including the London's Philharmonia Orchestra.

The instrument had been given to him on a long-term loan.

Describing the realisation it had gone, the Spanish violinist said: "My life was torn apart. Your heart feels like it's going to explode."

He had settled down to a pub dinner with a friend in Canonbury, north London, following a rehearsal with the orchestra.

"I put it right next to me," he said, on the bench on which he was sitting.

"You get taught from a very early age to take such good care of it. Nothing prepares you for having it snatched away."

Mr Ibanez's hat was on top of the violin case, and fell on the floor. Someone in the pub picked up the hat thinking it belonged to the suspected thief, and went after him. Only afterwards did they realise the violin must have been stuffed under a coat the man was wearing.

The instrument was produced by renowned instrument maker Lorenzo Carcassi in 1740 in Florence.

It had been passed down to musicians over two centuries before it was purchased by a businessman in Germany.

Eight years ago, the businessman saw Mr Ibanez playing online and decided to loan him the violin to help his career.

Mr Ibanez said: "It's lived 300 years prior to my hands touching it. It's got its own history."

Losing it was like a bereavement of an old friend.

"Each hour, each performance, each challenge you get to know each other more and you express yourself through it."

It is insured, but for the musician the violin is "priceless".

The Metropolitan Police has been informed and is likely to examine the pub's CCTV footage.

But violins like this are also very easy to identify, making them hard for criminals to sell.

This one will be even more difficult to offload. It has a unique feature - a tiny heart-shaped cut-out on the back of the 'scroll' at the top end of the instrument.

Richard White, from JP Guivier, one of London's few professional violin dealers, has already been warned about the theft.

How much could a thief get for it?

"Nothing," he said. "As long as we know about the instrument, which we do. If that violin comes into us for sale, it will not leave the shop."

The violin is insured, but his greatest fear is that it will simply be thrown away, by someone not realising its value - financial or emotional.

Often media attention can be vital to recovering an instrument.

In 2019, musician Stephen Morris was reunited with his 310-year old violin which he had left on a train, after secret negotiations.

British Transport Police released a CCTV image of a man believed to have taken the violin and asked him to get in touch, prompting media appeals, including on BBC Breakfast.

This prompted a message on Twitter, now X, sent to Mr Morris from someone claiming to know the man.

Over the next 24 hours, further contact was made with the message sender, who by now was suspected of having taken the violin.

Calling himself "Gene", which was not his real name, the man agreed to meet Mr Morris at a Waitrose car park near Beckenham railway station.

The musician's friend and former police officer, Mike Pannett, gathered a team of plainclothes officers who were placed on stand-by.

But the full weight of the law was not needed as what was described as a "gentlemanly exchange" took place.