light made solid

Just spotted an interesting stained glass news piece out of St. Louis. In our piece on buying stained glass on eBay, we mentioned the emerging trend of stained glass theft. Some areas of the country are worse off for this than others. It seems that St. Louis has been hit by a veritable stained glass crime wave.

In less than a year, police have said that hundreds of windows from over 80 locations have been stolen. Robbery times seem to vary as widely as from noon to midnight. Thieves are said to always be extremely careful, and rarely leave any evidence at all. This means, of course, that the thieves are selling their wares somewhere and making a good amount doing it. Antique dealers are required by law in St. Louis (and elsewhere) to take a thumbprint and photo of anyone they buy goods off the street from. Which most likely means that thieves are finding alternative markets.

Here's an interesting passage from the article:

"It mostly happens between the time a house is closed on and new people move in," Preston says, adding that the phones have quieted since mid-March. In his audiotaped confession, Tanter admitted to casing neighborhoods for properties for sale or rent and said he'd committed some burglaries and driven the getaway car for others. He'd park the car on a nearby corner, have an accomplice enter the building, then pull up to the house and help load the windows, he said. Caruso says Diamond found his prey through the real estate listings. "If he saw a classified ad in the RFT that said, 'Gorgeous stained glass windows' -- boom! There's the target."

The moral of this story is just to be careful when you're buying second hand stained glass. Know your seller and inquire about the history of the glass.