Canada

Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Wolfe letter among 1,300 old rarities recovered by RCMP

By: Melanie Patten

Posted: 01/26/2013 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

A suit of armour and an old officer's hat are among 1,300 artifacts stolen from various locations across Atlantic Canada and recovered by the RCMP. The Mounties put them on display Friday. They were found in a Halifax home and a man has been charged. some of the hundreds of historical artifacts discovered at a suburban home, in Halifax on Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. John Mark Tillmann has been charged with possessing stolen property.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan (CP)

Enlarge Image

An old officer's hat was among the stolen antiques the RCMP recovered. (CP)

HALIFAX -- An evidence tag hangs from the clunky top half of a suit of armour. Next to it is a handwritten letter penned two centuries ago by British Gen. James Wolfe that sits in protective plastic.

The RCMP allege antiques, rare books, historical documents and paintings were brazenly stolen from across Atlantic Canada over 20 years and stashed in a suburban Halifax home until last week.

On Friday, the Mounties held a show-and-tell featuring some of the 1,300 items seized from the two-storey home in Fall River, believed to be from universities, libraries, museums, antique dealers and private collections and worth more than $500,000.

There's a spear, a gas mask, a glass lantern, early editions of Daniel Defoe's 1719 classic Robinson Crusoe, a fishing net, a model canoe, paintings depicting centuries-old scenes and a brass telescope.

"There are some items that I would say aren't historically significant, but are of value to the people who owned them," Sgt. Colin MacLean said.

"But the vast majority are antiques, historical items that form parts of collections that just can't be replaced."

The small sampling put on display for reporters ranged from the outlandish to the sentimental.

The suit of armour, which was a prop from a movie, was stolen from an antique dealer in Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley. Another item, a red wooden chair, was snatched from a local senior citizen within the last year.

"It may not be one of the most valuable items here, but as a family heirloom, to be able to return that to this gentleman is very significant to him," MacLean said.

John Mark Tillmann, 51, faces several counts of possession of stolen property and is due in court Feb. 27 for a bail hearing. Police say additional charges are pending.

The RCMP say their investigation began when officers pulled over a car last July and allegedly found the letter written by Wolfe. The one-of-a-kind note, dated 1758, had disappeared from Dalhousie University's archives years ago.

Dalhousie archivist Mike Moosberger said staff realized the letter was missing after completing an inventory in 2009, but no one knew for sure whether it had been stolen or just misplaced.

Moosberger was reunited with the letter Friday at the RCMP detachment, but said he was upset to see it had been torn and is missing some writing as a result. "It's obviously going to impact on the value, because it's not a complete letter and it's damaged now."

Similar Wolfe letters have fetched US$18,000 at auction, he said.

When the one-of-a-kind letter is eventually returned to Dalhousie, Moosberger said there are no plans to keep it under permanent lock and key.

"It doesn't do anyone any good if we've got this material and it's shuttered away or kept in a safe somewhere and nobody's going to have access to it," he said.

MacLean, a history buff who holds a degree in the subject, said the police investigation was far from over. A couple hundred more items believed to be connected to the same case were found earlier this week in Halifax.

"We believe it's going to take us several months to work through all the exhibits, determine where they came from, locate the victims, the owners," he said.

MacLean said police are also working with authorities in the United States to determine whether some items were sold, including a first edition of Charles Darwin's The Origin of Species.

-- The Canadian Press

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition January 26, 2013 A16

Factual inaccuracy? Something missing? Help improve our journalism.

Know about news? Share your story suggestions, photos and video.

Spelling error? Punctuation problem? Send us an email if you’ve found a typo.

More Canada

Undock

You can comment on most stories on winnipegfreepress.com. You can also agree or disagree with other comments. All you need to do is register and/or login and you can join the conversation and give your feedback.

Have Your Say

New to commenting? Check out our Frequently Asked Questions.

The Winnipeg Free Press does not necessarily endorse any of the views posted. By submitting your comment, you agree to our Terms and Conditions. These terms were revised effective April 16, 2010.