Oh, man. I'm so mad. You would be too: Check out this article from the NBC Action News about a couple of "enterprising" fellows in Kansas who were involved in the "theft of antiques and household goods put in storage by military personnel who were deployed or transferred from Ft. Leavenworth."

From 1999-2003, an employee of Century Van Lines in Leavenworth, Kansas, sorted out valuable goods soldiers stored with CVL and placed them up for sale on eBay and at his "garage sale."

Stolen goods including collectable lunch boxes, decorative platters and oriental rugs were sold to antique shops and individuals in Kansas, Missouri, Wisconsin and Ohio.

You can read the entire article here.

Stealing from servicemen and women who are away serving their country ... shame on you!

Where can a life-sized clown named Louie wander off to? Or was he clown-napped? When you first read about it, you might think it's some sort of spoof of CSI or some other detective show. But amusement park owners Stanley and Margaret Nelson are serious about getting their clown back.

According to a news story in the Fort Mill Times, the 60-year-old Witchita, Kan., amusement park is missing two important antiques: its life-sized, carved clown named Louie and the automated Wurlitzer organ Louie played.

The Nelsons have sued the former Joyland operators who say they know nothing about the missing clown's whereabouts. In the meantime, the status of the park's reopening remains in flux.

To read more of this detective drama, click here or here. They're not clowning around.

We saw on a news site this morning that the city council in Reno, Nev., is looking to revamp its rules for antique dealers now that a second antique mall has closed, citing excessive and expensive regulations.

Apparently some time ago, jewelry that was stolen from a legislator's home showed up at an antique store. Since that time, antiques dealers have been lumped in with pawn shop owners and both are required to report their sales and purchases DAILY to police.

Good to hear they value the antiques industry enough to take another look. To read the whole story, click here.

Philip Capewell will have around five years to think about what he's done.



On April 25 an English judge sentenced the man for handling valuable antiques stolen from a couple, who was tied up in their country house, and threatened with various tortures like having thier fingernails pulled out if they didn't tell the thieves where the valuable antiques were.

They did as any of us would have done when faced with such a thing; they told the thieves exactly where the antiques were.

Two other men were also found guilty of conspiring to handle stolen antiques, but not of the theft itself. I'm not exactly sure if anybody has been charged with the deed itself, because this article from the Midhurst and Petworth Observor is rather poorly written. I do hope, however, that someone pays for the heinous act of committing the crime itself.

This sentencing is a clear message at least to would be antique thieves and fences in England: You will do time if busted.

Capewell is in poor health, suffers from depression - and has a penchant for selling stolen goods. He's a serial offender. I'm sorry for his health issues, but if you do the crime, you will do the time. Sorry. Them's the breaks. Capewell evidently showed no remorse for his crimes, and in so doing gave the entire antiques community a black eye. I hope he uses his time to the truly reflect on how he's wasted his life.

The sad reality of the antique coin market right now is that there are an awful lot of fakes coming out, especially being manufactured in China.

This guy in Orlando - busted faking it in the land of Mickey - is just barely one blade of grass in a large lawn.

Good for the Palm Beach police department and the antiques community there.

The cops busted a guy that had lifted several thousand dollars worth of antiques from four different shops. Sad thing is that he probably wouldn't have been caught or pursued by the police if he hadn't been involved in a hit-and-run shortly before he got picked up.

These things obviously go on all the time at antiques shops, malls and shows across the country. Is it the perception of antiques that keep enforcement from being more stringent, or simply that law enforcement has better things to do with their time than worry about antique theft?

I think, as I'm sure anyone that reads this would, that communities would be well-served to pay attention to antique theft.

Think about it: Any given weekend (not to mention weekday traffic) there are thousands of shows, shops and auctions going on, and thousands and thousands of people going to these places. Do the math on it and you get a huge amount of dollars. Extrapolate possible theft and that equals many thousands of dollars of lost revenue right there.

It starts by getting one thief at a time, and the Palm Beach police force has done its part today. Once again, I say, good for them!

I'd love to get my hands on these punks that have been hitting several antiques malls  - cleaning them out of thousands of dollars of merch - in the Upper Midwest, mainly Illinois and Wisconsin, as reported here by Maine Antiques Digest.

The story contains a link to the Roscoe Antiques Mall, a huge with good quality dealers and owners, where they've posted video of the thieves. It's pretty brazen, and definitely calculated. There's tremendous value to be had, and as far as priority, it's not exactly high on the lost of most law enforcement agencies.

The owners at Roscoe took it upon themselves to alert mall owners in the area and were alarmed to learn how many others have been hit and robbed.

It makes me sick, to tell you the truth.

Be on the lookout for a trio of folks with large amounts of antiques to sell, or people who are scoping malls in the area. They knew what they wanted and knew where they were going. I hope mall owners invest in German Sheppards, or Pit Bulls, with loud barks and mean bites to dissuade the jerks poor misguided souls about their current foibles.

This is from the L.A. Times. It's all about the amount of antiquities still missing after being looted when Baghdad fell. That was five years ago today, btw.

At first it was thought the damage done by theft was much much greater, and anyone who loves art and history looked on in horror as numbers like 150,000 were bandied about when those reports mentioned numbers of missing artifacts.

They were talking about the beginings of human civilization - ancient, ancient stuff - that carried with it priceless provenance and importance. Many of those pieces, it turns out, had long ago been hidden by smart curators, well out of harm's way, and that initial massive number dwindled to 15,000.

Of those 15,000 known artifacts, 7500 have been recovered. That still leaves half, and an amazing amount of history still floating around black markets or destroyed and trashed.

The good thing is that these pieces are rare enough that, when one surfaces at auction or on the market, it is usually quickly recognized and taken back to its proper home. This is further heightened in an age when national museums around the world are demanding back priceless antiquities that were looted in past ages of imperialism. Greece is doing it, so are Italy, India and China, among many. This seems to have hit western museums hard. The culture flowing out of Iraq, home to the fertile crescent where it's thought so much life firt streamed out of, is older by millenium than most other countries. It bears direct links to stories in the Old Testament. Of anywhere that deserves its history back, then surely it's there.

This doesn't say anything about whether the whiskey's any good, but the bottles most certainly aren't.

This comes via a Chicago Web site called The Chicago Syndicate. It's a fun Web site, but the story is real, and serious.

There are a lot of folks out there that take their antique whiskey bottles - and their whiskey - seriously. If you are buying bottles online, and it's coming from Europe, especially Scotland, caveat emptor!

Heads up here for a theft in central PA. Here's the link, as well as the text, below.

Antiques stolen in Monroe Twp. barn burglary

by MATT MILLER, Of Our Cumberland County Bureau

Monday March 17, 2008, 11:14 AM

An array of antiques were stolen during a burglary at a barn in the 200 block of Martin Road in Monroe Twp., Cumberland County, between March 11 and Friday, state police said.

The stolen items included an antique wooden sofa and chair made in 1875, two 1930s floor model radios and 25 pieces of grain processing equipment made between 1905 and 1950, police said. A lawn mower, a drill press and two extension ladders also were taken.

Anyone with information can call police at 717-249-2121.

Here's a first look at our March 19 issue, a special for the Atlantique City Antiques Show, which is owned by Trader's parent company, F+W Publications.

It'll be a glossy front with an extra 5,000 copies distributed at AC on March 29-30, 2008 at the Altantic City Convention Center.

I'll be there. If you are around and want to say hi, please do...

APPROXIMATELY 175 PIECES OF AMERICAN ART POTTERY STOLEN

HILLARD, OH - Between 3:15 P.M. on Monday, February 25, 2008, and 8:30 A.M. on Tuesday, February 26, 2008, approximately 175 pieces of American Art Pottery were stolen from Belhorn Auction Services, LLC in the Columbus suburb of Hilliard, Ohio.  Also stolen was a cargo trailer in which the pottery was loaded, which was secured and locked at Belhorn Auctions’ office.

Pottery stolen includes various examples of Weller, Roseville, Rookwood, Owens, Van Briggle, Hampshire, Pillin, Fulper as well as others.  Also stolen was an exhibit of fake and reproduction pottery assembled by the American Art Pottery Association for educational and presentation purposes.  The trailer is an unmarked, white American Hauler cargo trailer with fold-down rear ramp and a system of shelving on the inside.

“We are working closely with law enforcement and our property management company to review security tapes covering the area during the time of the theft,” said Belhorn Auction Services, LLC President Greg Belhorn. “All consignors affected by this incident are fully covered and will be reimbursed for any financial loss.  However, I do remain hopeful that the items will be recovered.”

Nearly all of the stolen pieces were slated for the American Art Pottery Association’s 2008 Auction to be held in conjunction with the organization’s Annual Convention on April 23-27, 2008, in the Greater Philadelphia area.  Belhorn Auction Services, LLC donates its time and resources to conduct this auction, which benefits the Association and its endeavors.  The full  commission and buyer’s premium generated from the auction serve as an important revenue source from the American Art Pottery Association.

A general list and photos of the stolen pottery will be made available at Belhorn Auction Services, LLC’s website at www.belhorn.com.  Anyone with information regarding this incident or who is approached by an individual with pottery for sale matching the description of stolen items should contact the Hilliard (Ohio) Police Department at (614) 876-7321 or Belhorn Auction Services, LLC at (614) 921-9441.  A reward is being offered for any information leading to the recovery of the stolen property.

Disgraced former Antiques Roadshow appraiser Russ Pritchard entered a guilty plea in a Bucks County, PA court yesterday, and is now on the hook for $6,800 to a woman he bilked when he sold her heirlooms and never paid up.

The sad thing - besides Pritchard's agonizing fall from grace - is that the amount he owes Sandra Udinson of Plumstead, is just a drop in the bucket of the hundreds of thousands of dollars he owes in civil damages already and which will probably be leveled at him when he faces similar charges to those in Bucks County in Montgomery County next month.

The article linked to above tells the story of his sentencing, the juiciest bit being the judge telling pritchard, "The most important thing is that the victim be made whole,” Heckler told Pritchard. “You will pay her, or you will end up in jail.”

I don't know Russ Pritchard, and he brought this on himself - for sure - but I can't help but find this whole thing a bit sad as it drags on and on...

Pictured below is Pritchard from his Roadshow days. The pic is from WGBH, so I'm not sure if it's one of his fake Civil War appraisals.

Here's your weekly sneak peak at the upcoming Trader, that literally just went to press.

Bad things do happen, even to antiques people and even in the South.

 

This is a story from a Nashville TV station - Newschannel 5 - about a guy whose rental was broken into, in Nashville, and who had $3,000 worth of antiques stolen from his house. A few months later he finds a listing for his property - as someone else's property, of course - on Craigslist.

The address associated with the sale ended up being on the same street!

The police, however, do not think the seller knew he was selling stolen goods, let alone stolen goods from a house on the same street he lived on. I guess the thief, or thieves, took off that piece of yellowed and peeling masking tape with "In case this valuable antique is stolen please return to..." written in Sharpie on it.

"What? This stuff is stolen? And it belongs to you? And you live next door? Man, do I feel stupid..."

Chances are that stuff like this happens quit a bit, really.

The report does contain the rather ambiguous statement from the police that: "We're hopeful this incident will get us to a major player in antique business in the area."

For what, exactly?

Maybe the police are simply looking for some vintage posters to decorate the precinct...

Good for the Brits! If the U.S. would police and regulate traffic in stolen antiques more often than we might have less of a problem with scammers hurting dealers at shop shows and auctions.

Check out the story here.

This was sent to me too late to get into the print version of Trader, but sounds like a good sale for a good cause, from Motley's, in Richmond, VA.

Richmond Auction House Sells Jewelry Seized In City Drug Bust.
Proceeds Help Police In Fight Against Drugs



RICHMOND, VA — Motley’s Auction & Realty Group will auction on Feb. 20, a large quantity of jewelry seized recently during a Richmond drug bust. All of the seized jewelry, including a diamond-encrusted man’s watch by Benny & Company, will be offered to the highest bidder, with no minimum price or reserves. The proceeds from the sale will be returned to Richmond law enforcement in an effort to help fund their continued fight against drugs.

Nearly 100 lots of jewelry, including those from numerous estates, will be offered starting at 3 p.m. at Motley’s galleries at 4402 West Broad Street in Richmond, VA.

All lots are viewable at www.motleys.com or are available for personal inspection on Monday, February 18, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Tuesday, February 19, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Items can also be previewed on February 20, the day of the sale, from 10 a.m. until all lots are sold. Motley’s offers online (eBay Live), absentee and phone bidding for those unable to attend the auction in person.

Motley’s next auction, on April 2, 2008.

For more information on any upcoming Motley’s auctions or their comprehensive appraisal services, visit motleys.com or call 804-355-2100.

There'll be some interesting stuff in this sale, sure enough...