Copper Caper: Thieves Nab Art To Sell for Scrap

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Copper Caper: Thieves Nab Art To Sell for Scrap
Town Steps Up Security Of Public Sculptures; Making a 'Cacti Barrier'
By SARAH MCBRIDE
May 1, 2008; Page A1

BREA, Calif. -- When a sculpture called the "The Spirit of Life" was stolen from its public perch here, city officials reported it to the Federal Bureau of Investigation as a case of stolen art. But the local police said it was likely a different kind of crime: commodity theft. Weighing about 250 pounds, the sculpture was cast in bronze, the main ingredient of which is copper. That made it a tempting target for thieves looking to cash in on skyrocketing copper prices by selling it to a scrap yard. Manhole covers, pipes and wiring have already been targeted for theft in many cities, thanks to copper prices that have risen to about $4 a pound from $3.50 a year ago and $1.50 three years ago. In the prosperous Orange County city of Brea, home to a thriving public art program, big bronze sculptures are now on the hit list. The city has lost three such works in the past 18 months.

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Copper art thefts are leading some sculptors to rethink their use of bronze altogether. Arizona sculptor John Battenberg, who has a 50-year career working with bronze, says he ditched the material after he woke up one day to find gaping holes in the walls of his house, where panels from his monumental work, "The Gates of Arcadia," had rested. Mr. Battenberg mostly paints now. Sculptor Joel Fisher, who had some 50 bronze works stolen from his Vermont studio last fall, says he hasn't been able to move beyond making simple models because the theft of so much of his life's work has stifled his "creative process." Police believe the works of both artists ended up in scrap yards, though 31 of Mr. Fisher's sculptures were eventually recovered. Copper typically fetches a lower price secondhand than what's listed on commodities exchanges; metal with 66% copper content, typical for a bronze, might sell for around $2.45 a pound at the scrap yard.


In Brea, rapid growth in recent years has led to a public-art boom. Developments over $1.5 million are required to commission a piece of art. The city now has 144 public sculptures, of which almost 50 are bronze. Expressive and sturdy, bronze doesn't rust under extreme weather. While the city's population hits about 120,000 on weekdays, it shrinks to 40,000 at night as commuters and shoppers head home, leaving many areas deserted. One of Brea's missing sculptures, William Cornwall's "Dove of Peace, Hope and Love," stood in front of a nondescript office building just off the freeway. The building was undergoing renovation when a contractor noticed the sculpture was no longer there, says Scott Boureston, a manager at Boureston Development Inc., which had bought the building in early 2006... Police say such heists typically require more planning than those involving pipes or other small copper items because of the statues' sheer weight. Police Detective Jason Celmer, who has been assigned to the Brea cases, says he thinks two or three men typically tackle the sculptures, although it would be possible for one man with the right tools to do the job. "Most of these guys would back a truck up to , and knock it into the truck," he says.

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"I took it personally," says Ms. Manuel, the city's art specialist. Ms. Manuel contacted art museums, foundations, and sculpture gardens to learn if they had experienced problems, and what they were doing to beef up security. New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art put Ms. Manuel in touch with an art security firm. She says she discussed with them options ranging from security cameras to GPS systems, which are tricky to use because encasing them in a statue makes changing batteries almost impossible. In January, Ms. Manuel got a demoralizing email from police: The sculpture "Faceless Crowd" by Erwin Binder had disappeared. "I couldn't believe it was happening again," she says. Perched in an office park outside Louis & Co., a distributor of woodworking machines and supplies, the sculpture showed abstract forms appearing to walk in various directions. Police believe it, too, was taken for scrap value.

Ms. Manuel rushed to organize meetings with city officials and complete an inventory of every public sculpture in Brea. Then she sent a list of the locations of high-risk bronzes, with accompanying thumbnail snapshots, to police and maintenance workers, asking them to keep an eye on the pieces. She helped draft a letter to property owners with public sculptures, alerting them to the thefts and urging them to beef up security with surveillance cameras, better lighting and increased presence of security guards. She urged them to insure their works and to call police on any suspicious activity. "Thorn-bearing bushes or cacti around the base of your sculpture...may make it more difficult for would-be thieves," the letter read. Since the sculptures are privately owned, Ms. Manuel says she has no way of knowing how many property owners have followed through on the suggestions.

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URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120959221333557457.html (subscription)




Stolen: The Spirit of Life' by sculptor John Kennedy was swiped from a housing development in Brea last year.

[pnorman]

1. Copper Clapper Caper

http://video.aol.com/video-detail/copper-clappers/3065787842

pnorman

[Oeditpus Rex]

2. Beat me to it

How Webb and Carson kept straight faces through that, I'll never know. :rofl:

[question everything]

3. Hilarious. I was wondering how long they will be able to keep straight face

I doubt they had teleprompter then, did they?