A Les Paul guitar stolen from The Rolling Stones in 1971 was miraculously discovered — in a collection of guitars received by the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The guitar belonged to Mick Taylor, who was in the Stones lineup from 1969-1974, and was one of many instruments infamously stolen at the Villa Nellcôte mansion in Côte d’Azur, France while the band was recording their 1972 album Exile on Main St.

The culprits were thought to be drug dealers that Keith Richards owed money. One rock historian wrote of the incident: “Villa Nellcôte was such an open house that, one day in September 1971, burglars walked out of the front gate with nine of [Keith] Richards’ guitars, Bobby Keys’ saxophone and Bill Wyman’s bass in broad daylight . . .The crime was reputedly carried out by [drug] dealers from Marseille who were owed money by Richards.”

This past May, The Met announced a “landmark gift of more than 500 of the finest guitars from the golden age of American guitarmaking" that included a “1959 sunburst Les Paul guitar used by Keith Richards during the Rolling Stones’ first appearance on ‘The Ed Sullivan Show’ in 1964,” (pictured above).

According to Taylor's business manager and partner Marlies Damming, Richards sold that same guitar to Taylor. “There are numerous photos of Mick Taylor playing this Les Paul, as it was his main guitar until it disappeared," he pointed out in a statement to Page Six. "The interesting thing about these vintage Les Pauls (from the late 1950s), is that they are renowned for their flaming . . . which is unique, like a fingerprint.”

“Taylor says he never received compensation for the theft and is mystified as to how his property found its way into the Met’s collection,” added another source.

Collector Dirk Ziff was the one who made the donation, which also includes guitars built between 1920-1970 and used by Roy Rogers and Mississippi John Hurt, among others.

Rick O'Bryan