PHILADELPHIA >> A student at a Boston conservatory left a rare violin worth $172,000 on a bus after arriving in Philadelphia, and police are asking for the public’s help in getting it back.

The New England Conservatory student got on a Megabus in Boston with the 176-year-old violin but got off without it late Tuesday, police said.

Muchen Hsieh told investigators that she left the instrument in an overhead bin and only realized she had forgotten it after she had been picked up. The violin was lent to her by the Chi Mei Culture Foundation in her native Taiwan while she studies in the U.S.

"I’m a violin major, so I really hope that the person that took it can give it back to me so I can continue my studies because right now, I can’t do anything," she told KYW-TV.

Hsieh said she called the bus company to see if the instrument had been found, but she was told it wasn’t on board. Megabus offers low-cost express bus service to more than 70 cities in the U.S. and Canada.

The violin, made in 1835 by Vincenzo Jorio in Naples, was in a reddish case with two straps on the back, police Lt. John Walker said.

"We believe that somebody may have grabbed the item without realizing its value," he said.

Walker described the violin as maple with a golden-brown varnish and a serial number of V310. It still bears its original label.

The instrument can be dropped off to Philadelphia police, no questions asked, Walker said.