The Baroque style fountain features a cherub in an scallop shell blowing a horn as the top tier. Four cherubs dance around the central over an even larger scallop shell on the middle tier. At the base are four fantastical dolphins, fish or sea monsters with their mouths open and tails vertical against the column.
Wiltshire Police have now launched an appeal for any information about the theft — people who were in the area during the time and may have seen or heard something suspicious, anyone who sees the fountain for sale online, etc. They’re calling it unique, but It’s not. The design is still being manufactured today, and antique versions can found at auctions.
As an antique, it is worth an estimated £10,000 ($13,350), but I very much doubt anybody’s going to be offering a one-ton sculpture on Facebook Marketplace. I bet this is a scrap metal theft. People have been stealing funerary plaques and urns from cemeteries for the metal value, so the sheer quantity of bronze in a piece like this would make it attractive to very bold (and strong) thieves. The best chance of finding it is if a scrap metal dealer has scruples.
* This article was originally published here
No comments:
Post a Comment