A trophy thief goes for the gold
Published 5:00 am Tuesday, October 29, 2013
As far as heists go, the disguise was cartoonish — the thief was swaddled like a ninja from head to toe. His method was neither high-tech nor elegant — he kicked in doors and smashed glass cases. But his taste was impeccable, and sporting: His haul included the 1903 Belmont Stakes trophy, a silver Fabergé soup tureen and ladle given by Czar Nicholas II of Russia to a U.S. harness horse impresario and the U.S. Amateur Championship trophy that completed golfer Bobby Jones’ grand slam in 1930.
In all, in less than 18 months trophies and memorabilia valued at nearly $1 million were stolen from three museums and a country club in New York and New Jersey by what the authorities say is probably the same male suspect. The thefts have caught the attention of the FBI and antiques dealers, have broken the hearts of horse racing and golf enthusiasts, and have prompted theories ranging from the common street crime variety to complex schemes worthy of “The Sopranos.”
Trending
Even as rewards for information have topped $35,000, the cases remain unsolved, which has become increasingly disheartening for officials at the victimized museums.
“These are one-of-a-kind trophies that are, well, priceless,” said Brien Bouyea, a spokesman for the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., where five trophies valued at a half-million dollars were stolen. “They have a unique look. You just can’t sell them on eBay.”
How the thief has eluded the state and local police as well as federal authorities is a product of intelligence, not dumb luck. Why he has homed in on cherished hardware from the sporting world is a matter of debate.
“Whoever it is is experienced at what they do,” said John Catone, an assistant chief with the Saratoga Springs Police Department. “The question is, is it about having something of historic value or is it about melting down the gold?”
At the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, as in the previous thefts, Catone said, video surveillance shows that the thief worked quickly and confidently. He smashed two cases with about a half-dozen trophies in each. But he took only five in total. Three of them had significant amounts of gold: the 1903 Brighton Cup Trophy won by Hermis (35 ounces, 18-karat gold); the 1905 Saratoga Special Trophy won by Mohawk II (76 ounces, 18-karat gold); and the 1914 Brook Cup Handicap Steeplechase Trophy won by Compliment.
The Belmont Stakes Trophy captured by Africander and the 1923 Grand National Steeplechase Trophy won by Sergeant Murphy were silver.
Trending
“He obviously knew the place and knew what he was coming to get,” Catone said. “He was out in less than three minutes.”
With gold prices in the last year reaching as high as $1,700 an ounce and silver at $30, it doesn’t take a horseplayer to calculate that the odds are pretty good that the trophies have been melted for their metals and a big score.
“I’ve never seen a significant secondary market for trophies,” said Robert Wittman, a former senior investigator and founder of the FBI Art Crime Team, who now has his own protection and recovery firm. “At the same time, they are not the best thing to steal for the melt. There’s a lot of garbage metal in there to get to what’s valuable.”
Melting down the trophies could also be complicated because the items have been listed with national and international art registries and, with the help of the FBI, according to Catone, word of them has been spread to art and antiques dealers.
“We have flooded the zone,” Catone said. “There are a limited number of professionals who can melt and extract the full value from them.”
It appears the thief started off modestly, then grew bolder and more particular.
He first came to the attention of the authorities in New Jersey in May 2012 when the Somerset Hills Country Club reported trophies had been taken from its clubhouse. A week later and 15 minutes away, in Bernards Township, he struck the U.S. Golf Association Museum, making off with the U.S. Amateur trophy and a replica of Ben Hogan’s Hickok Belt, made of alligator skin and with a solid gold buckle and an encrusted four-carat diamond, which Hogan received in 1953 as the nation’s top professional athlete.
“We don’t discuss value, but we consider it significant,” Joe Goode, a spokesman for the U.S. Golf Association, said of the belt. “And the U.S. Am Trophy is priceless as it dates back to 1926 and was the trophy that completed Jones’ grand slam in 1930.”
Last December, the thief broke into the Harness Racing Museum and Hall of Fame in Goshen, N.Y., and made off with the Memphis Gold Challenge Cup, the gold Weaver Loving Cup and a Tiffany basket-shaped bowl, as well as 10 other trophies dating from 1895 to 1946.
“We were targeted because we looked like we were easy,” said Janet Terhune, the museum’s director. “The common thread of all these were that we were all easy hits.”
Museums might have been inviting targets because they would have allowed the thief to spend hours blending in with patrons as he took note of security protocols and selected his high-value targets. All are in sleepy neighborhoods with security limited to alarms and some surveillance cameras. All were hit quickly at night.