Stolen Kongsberg silver

An image of this missing Kongsberg silver has been on the Society of Mineralogy Museum Professionals for some years now. Anyone know more about it?

[www.agiweb.org]


Two distinct silver wires are imbedded in the calcite and the specimen is of high quality having no major tarnish.

As part of an audit, this specimen has been found to be missing from the Main Mineral Collection of the Natural History Museum, London. The audit trail and image archive indicate that this specimen went missing during the early 1990's and was replaced by a lesser specimen.


Anyone with information concerning the whereabouts of this specimen should contact:

Mr. Alan D. Hart
Collections Leader and Curator
Mineralogy Department
The Natural History Museum
Cromwell Road
London SW7 5BD



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 05/22/2007 11:57AM by Jolyon Ralph.

Quite astonishing really that this specimen seems to have disappeared without trace.

Can anyone out there help?
Thanks
Chris S

It's always possible that this might show up at the Tucson Show.

Someone out there knows where this specimen is!!!

Can anyone out there help?
Thanks
Chris S

This is my annual message requesting information on the whereabouts of this specimen which remains missing from the Natural History Museum collection. It is believed to be in North America.

Chris S

I see it here clearly in this picture here! I was wondering about this....

[www.trinityminerals.com]

mystery solved?

It sure looks like it could be the same piece. Wow.

Just saw that a reference was made to a photo on my website of this specimen (Thank you Margaret!). Just so everyone is clear, it is a photo taken of a case presented by Bill Larson last year at the East Coast Mineral Show in Springfield. He is your guide to how it got to where it is now...

If that is the specimen, and not an accurate reproduction of it, then the person who now possesses it, whomever they might be, is in violation of the law if they now know it is a stolen specimen. In the USA possession of stolen property is a crime. Significant dollar value (about $1,000 - varies by state) equates to a felony. Transporting stolen property across state lines (or importing stolen property into the country) is a federal felony. Transferring stolen property or selling stolen property are themselves criminal acts. Someone in possession of stolen property with a significant value can only return the property to its rightful owner without committing a (another) crime.

Thanks to all posters here.

We will do all we can for however long it takes to get our specimen back.

Here is what has been achieved in British courts when an exotic bird feather thief was caught

[www.bbc.co.uk]


But actually we aren't after retribution, just restitution.

bws
Chris S

Chris, has there been any progress on this? .....Greg

That is a dead ringer. Looks to be exactly the same specimen. Same cricks, same bumps, same arms, same angles, etc.

Hi

Has anyone contacted Bill Larson as to who now has the specimen, or at least held it at that the time of that show?
Was it Bill's or did someone lend it to him for the display. If so, one would think he should know and that Bill should have contacted Mr. Alan D. Hart at the The Natural History Museum.

Perhaps Bill can enlighten us.

Cheers

I have just sent a note off to Bill, let's give him the benefit of the doubt as perhaps he hasn't read this thread. I would suggest no one jump to any conclusions.

Gail Patricia Copus Spann

Bill called me back, it seems that everything is Kosher. He didn't even know about this thread. Anyhow, I am satisfied with Bill's story.It's a non issue as far as I am concerned.

Gail Patricia Copus Spann

And the story is?

Another photo of the same display is here :



That specimen really looks the same one, maybe better cleaned.

In attachment a comparison, just resized and rotated the biggest photo.

It clearly is the same specimen.

I know the people involved in this very well. The situation is very complex, but still quite murky and far from what I'd describe as 'kosher'.

Please do not jump to conclusions about this either. I believe that progress is being made towards the return of the specimen to the museum, but that will not be helped by idle gossip in the mineral collecting world.

Clearly if Bill knew this specimen had been stolen from the NHM he would not have exhibited it publicly at the Springfield show.

I should have said Kosher with me. Anyhow, yes...there is lots of dialogue going on and Bill even had this piece in the IKONS addition to the MinRec. 6 months before this thread started. I agree, why post if you know it is stolen? You can see it is in the case showing Bill's minerals.
Bill is the 5th owner since this went "missing".

Gail Patricia Copus Spann

Any conclusion and no gossip for me, just highlight the usefulness of this section of the forum.

It 'nice to know that sometimes a sample that was believed lost forever is found again somewhere!

So more people read these pages, more difficult is for stolen specimens to have a market.

A good job, i think

Well in the end it does not matter who sold the specimen to whom or who knew what when, the fact is that this is a stolen specimen from a national museum and should be returned. I would hate to have a piece like that stolen from our collection and we should all be making sure that not only this specimen but all others that are taken from public institutions are returned.