At around 11.30am on Tuesday, November 9, Hamptons of Godalming auctioneer Richard Madley stopped for five minutes in a Sainsbury's car park in Cheam. While away from his car, opportunistic thieves broke a window and made off with his laptop case. They were likely unaware that it contained three esoteric objects made by members of the Cree tribe c.1850 - a velvet and beadwork purse, a floral embroidered squaw's bonnet and a bone-handled dagger with a Sheffield steel blade and a porcupine quill sheath.
A distraught Mr Madley had recently taken possession of them from a descendant of a Scottish explorer who had brought them back from the Hudson Bay area in the mid 19th century. Police expect the thieves will now attempt to sell the easily identifiable objects and have asked the antiques trade for help.
• More than 50 pieces of antique silver and jewellery were stolen from Helmsley's Castle Gate Antiques on the morning of Monday November 8. Between 11.10 and 11.40am, while the shop was temporarily closed, thieves forced locks on the door and then smashed four display cabinets before handpicking a dozen choice pieces of silver and wiping out the dealer's jewellery display.
Among the more identifiable items taken was a large Victorian silver ewer with a central band of classical figures in relief and marks for 1876, and a George III lidded tankard marked for Newcastle smith John Langlands I, 1769. A full list of items stolen is available from DC Owen of North Yorkshire Police. He can be contacted on 01723 509655, quoting crime reference number 1043130462.
