[Pontiac]

The original owner/heirs don’t have a claim to it?.

I don’t know about Britain but in the US I think the statute of limitations ran out at least 40 years ago.

The thing I would like to know is how the guitar got from London, England to San Diego, California.

[a fool in paradise]

I thought that the limitations apply to the crime of theft, but the object remains “owned” by the original owner.

Otherwise, in big art heists, you just warehouse a work for 40 years and take it to the auction houses, galleries, or private market and make your legal bank off it.