[MSN] Bronze thefts on the rise. Missing statues signify a trend.

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May. 08, 2006

Bronze thefts on the rise
Missing statues signify a trend

By DONALD BRADLEY
The Kansas City Star
Art is in the eye of the beholder - and, lately around Kansas City, in the
back of a pickup truck.

First, a bronze deer was poached from Tomahawk Creek Parkway in Leawood.
Next, statues of two horses were taken from the Saddle Ridge development, a
new subdivision in Independence.

Surely, George Washington astride his mighty steed at Washington Square Park
is safe - but another statue and some smaller bronze items such as cemetery
vases and hole markers at golf courses also have disappeared recently.

Police don't know whether it's the work of vandals or thieves. But Mark
Hereford, manager of Wabash Iron & Metal Co., a scrap yard at 1908 Troost
Ave., can't imagine what a thief would do with a 200-pound bronze deer.

"In this business, when three guys in an old pickup drive up with a bronze
statue in the back, you better be suspicious," Hereford said Friday.

"Maybe that deer is in a dorm room over at KU. Or being sold on eBay."

Ken McClain, an Independence lawyer and developer of Saddle Ridge, described
the horses as "very nice sculptured pieces." He said thieves would have had
to use a welding torch to cut the horses off at the hooves then probably a
crane to lift the horses.

"It's a terrible thing that people are willing to steal something that's put
there to benefit the public and then sell it for scrap metal," McClain said.

"These horses were part of the landscape, and they were stolen to get a few
pennies."

The bronze crime spree is not just in suburban Kansas City, but across the
country and elsewhere.

Four college students were arrested last week for allegedly stealing several
bronze items from The Breakers, the former summer home of the Vanderbilt
family in Newport, R.I., which is now a national historic site. Authorities
in Oceana County, Mich., say 50 solid-bronze flag holders recently were
swiped from the graves of war veterans.

And in New Zealand recently, a thief made off with a 50-kilogram bronze
statue of a mermaid.

Aaron Luckeroth, manager of Eligious Bronze, an art foundry in Kansas City,
said his company has seen an increase in orders for plaques, sculptures and
statues for people across the country.

"More and more is being stolen, so more and more is being replaced,"
Luckeroth said.

He said the crime wave probably is tied to a spike in the price of bronze.

Bronze is an alloy of copper, which has long been a hot item for thieves.
Abandoned houses often are broken into and the copper pipes removed. In the
Kansas City area recently, thieves have broken into electrical substations,
which have 161,000 volts running into them, and ripped out copper wire.
Kansas City Power & Light Co. and Aquila Inc. offered rewards for
information about the break-ins.

Luckeroth said his cost for bronze had nearly doubled recently to $4 a pound
because of the country's building boom, rising consumption of copper in
foreign countries such as China and the closing of some copper mines.

Hereford said police from Leawood and Independence have inquired about the
recent thefts.

He told The Star what he said he told them: "We don't need that kind of
business, and I would hope other places feel the same way."

Besides, he added, scrap bronze would bring only about $1.25 per pound.

"I don't think that's worth risking going to jail for," Hereford said.

Leawood police Sgt. Scott Hansen agreed: "But even if it's just a few bucks
: I guess that's better than nothing for some people."


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First glance 

│ First a deer, then two horses. Bronze statues in two suburbs go missing.

│ The crimes could be part of a national trend involving bronze.


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To reach Donald Bradley, call (816) 234-7810 or e-mail dbradley at kcstar.com .


http://www.kansascity.com/