A cargo trailer filled with antique furniture and decorative accessories valued at approximately $1 million was stolen from a Hampton Inn parking lot in suburban West Palm Beach on January 23.

Inside the trailer was Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century English furniture and smalls, such as boxes, tea caddies, candlesticks, cutlery and serving sets, brass, china and glass, that had been brought by an Illinois antiques dealer to exhibit at a 40-dealer antiques show.

Returning from the local antiques show on January 22, the dealer had parked the trailer on the north-side parking lot at the Hampton Inn. The next morning, it was gone. About 4,000 items were stolen. The trailer was subsequently recovered, but the items are still missing. Many of these have been posted to a website and can be viewed at www.goantiques.com/stolen.

Detective Jim Brown, lead agent at the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, said that the victims in this case were targeted by people in the know. He suggested that antiques dealers using such cargo trailers purchase global positioning satellite (GPS) location systems, some kind of alarm system and giant wheel locks that would deter potential thieves. Anyone having information concerning the theft or the stolen merchandise is asked to contact Detective Brown at the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office at 561-776-2106. Reference case number 07-029461.