Twenty Years Missing
08/11/2018
From the GCAS Library/Archives:
At some time between 9:00 AM on February 2, 1998, and 11:00 AM on February 12, 1998, the three Mimbres ceramic bowls shown below were stolen from the Silver City, New Mexico, home of Juanita Frank:
The theft was promptly reported to the Grant County Sheriff's Department, explaining that the artifacts had originally been found on Ms. Frank's family's ranch located east of Silver City. A newspaper report by the Silver City Daily Press dated March 11, 1998, published black-and-white photographs of all three bowls with the somewhat ambiguous description, "...They include a black-and-white bowl that is about 18 inches wide and 8 inches deep; a vessel that is 12 inches wide and 8 inches deep; and a smaller one. The unpainted portion of [one] bowl has been completed since the photograph was taken...."
The three bowls were still reported as missing eight months later, in October, 1998. There appears to have been no further follow up to the theft. Presumably the thief soon sold these bowls to either an intermediary or directly to a private collector, making further investigation by the Sheriff's Department impossible. However, if at the current time anyone might recognize any of these ceramics it may be possible to alert the individual currently in possession of one or more of them; and/or contact the Grant County Sheriff's Department at 575-574-0100; or contact the GCAS via this website.
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