Antique heirlooms stolen from Whitchurch home
Police investigating a burglary at the home of a World War II veteran who died in 2012 have released images of some of the distinctive items stolen.
The property near Whitchurch, which has been unoccupied for several months, was burgled sometime between September 2012 and November 2012.
The owner, an elderly man who fought in the Second World War as a bomber pilot, was a keen local historian and a passionate collector of antiques and historical artefacts, the vast majority of them local to Shropshire.
Up to 40 items are missing from the house, with an estimated value of between £50,000 and £75,000. Photographs of some of the things missing are included with this appeal.
Detective Sergeant Andy Chatting, who is investigating the incident, said most of the stolen items, if sold on, would mainly be of interest to people in Shropshire.
“One of the items stolen was a distinctive brass-faced clock, made by Whitchurch clockmaker John Barron and dating from about 1700,” he said.
“There was also a 7’ high grandfather clock made by Callcott of Coton, near Wem and a watercolour painting of two men - a Dr John Phillips of Malpas, Cheshire and a chimney-sweep named Edwards Randles, according to an inscribed plaque on the back - dating from the late 1700s to the mid 1800s.”
A cross-stitched cloth ‘sampler’, created by a Sarah Jones in 1801, a small, embossed and engraved silver beer jug with a 1752 London Hallmark, a white Barhill Jug with floral design and a small silver cup with a 1793 London Hallmark but later engraved in 1833 with the initials ‘R.H’ and ‘Miss Henry’.
“One of the largest items stolen was an old, elaborate oak chest with the initials ‘A P’ engraved on the front,” added DS Chatting.
“The victim’s family are understandably very distressed at the theft of these heirlooms, as many of them have been in the family for generations, some of them for several centuries.
“They have a huge amount of sentimental value and had been a real passion of the victim throughout his life.”
Anyone who might be offered any of the distinctive items for sale, including those in the antiques and collectibles trades, is asked to contact police in Shropshire on 101,
Information can also be passed on anonymously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111, where a reward is sometimes offered.
