: Move over, Kenos. There is another sibling duo making important
finds in the antiques world - in this case, from an
eight-year-old unsolved church heist. Barnstable Village antiques
dealer Justin Harden and his brother Charlie found treasured
silver flagons that had been stolen from the Unitarian Church in
Barnstable in 1996 being sold on the popular online auction site
eBay. The flagons - minus their lids, which are still missing -
were recently recovered and returned to the church after the
brothers contacted authorities and set into motion a dragnet
leading to the flagons' recovery and the relaunching of the
original investigation into their disappearance.
"The pair of flagons are the only items that have been recovered
so far," said Justin Harden. Eight years ago, after thieves broke
into the church and made off with a safe of the parish's
treasures, the 800-pound safe was found empty shortly after in a
nearby bog. Missing were the flagons, silverware, salvers and
other communion items, all told, some $25,000 to $50,000 worth of
antiques, as they were valued at the time.
As is the case with many such thefts, the investigators' trail
went cold, but on March 10, Charlie Harden, who with his brother
Justin runs Harden Studios, spotted the flagons as he cruised
eBay in search of antiques with a Barnstable connection. "We saw
the Barnstable silver [inscription], and the church is only three
doors up from us," said Justin Harden.
Described in the eBay auction page by the Atlanta, Ga.-based
seller as "2 Russian American Sterling Tankard Jugs 1828," the
flagons were pictured as well. "Here are a pair of truly unique,
sterling silver, large tankard shaped pitchers or jugs," the copy
read. "Each is hand made and hand engraved 'To the East Church in
Barnstable (Mass.) from their former Pastor, John Mellon Septr.
19, 1828.' The only mark is an '84' stamp, which is the Russian
silver purity mark. This leads us to believe that they were made
by a Russian immigrant silversmith. They measure about 9 inches
tall to the top of the handles and 53/4 inches in diameter across
the bottom. They each weigh 11/2 pounds on my postal scale. They
are in very good condition for their age with a couple of minor
dents."
"When we saw that they were from that church, we were actually
thinking of buying them [for our gallery]," said Justin Harden,
who explained that East Church was the original name for what
today is known as the Unitarian Universalist Church of
Barnstable.
A call to the church to conduct some due diligence research on
the pitchers resulted in the brothers learning that the items had
been part of the theft of the safe eight years earlier.
Fortunately, church historian Carolyn Crowell still had the
contact information for the Barnstable police detective who had
investigated the original crime, Detective Mark Delaney, and
after sitting down with the Hardens to compare the eBay
description with church files, she called him.
Harden said Delaney had a personal interest in reigniting the
investigation. "They did a great job, and it was a little bit of
a battle, because for a couple of pieces of silver that weren't
really worth a spectacular amount of money, for them to put all
of those resources into it, [Delaney] had to convince the chief,
and they had to convince the FBI. And the FBI can't spend time a
couple of dinky pieces of silver, but they did."
With the Hardens' assistance, the police and FBI set up a sting
operation in which Justin Harden contacted the Atlanta seller to
say he was interested in the flagons, as the eBay auction had
expired without anyone having met the seller's reserve. Harden
got the Atlanta man to agree to hold the flagons while he lined
up an "associate" to come and inspect them. The "associate"
turned out to be a pair of FBI agents, who when they questioned
the cooperative Atlanta seller learned that he was actually
brokering the sale of the items for a Rhode Island dealer, who in
turn, told Delaney that he had purchased the flagons at Brimfield
from a United Kingdom dealer. The case, which may now involve
Interpol, the international police agency, remains under
investigation, according to Delaney.
Meanwhile, the flagons were returned to the Barnstable Unitarian
Church, where elated church officials like historian Crowell are
grateful to have them back. The church recognized the Harden
brothers and Detective Delaney as part of its church service in
early April, although the Hardens were not in attendance to take
a bow. "We weren't there," said Justin Harden. "We had to work."
