Australian musician Jonathan Tooby‘s 200-year-old cello has been damaged in transit ahead of a tour across the UK and Greece with the Darlington Quartet.

The damage to Jon Tooby’s cello. Photo courtesy of Darlington Concerts/Facebook

After arriving in Manchester, Tooby opened his case to find “a huge crack down the back of the instrument”, despite the flight case appearing undamaged.

Tooby’s tour engagements last week included a performance of Elgar’s Cello Concerto.

The quartet filed a complaint with Qantas, the airline through which the flights were booked. In its response, Qantas said that it was unable to assess the claim as the last leg of the journey was completed on a British Airways flight.

“Jon’s cello is over 200 years old and these instruments are basically irreplaceable,” wrote Darlington Concerts in an Instagram post.

The Strad reports that the instrument was packed in a “Presto Case, [a] double-thick fibreglass flight case”; a video on Darlington Concerts’ Instagram page shows the outer case has been wrapped in bubble wrap and ‘Fragile’ tape.

“The damage severely devalues the instrument and repairs don’t guarantee that the cello will retain its original qualities,” Darlington Concerts said.

“We...