BARRE, Vt. (WCAX) – An unlikely encounter has brought a stolen Vermont historic treasure back home.
Vermont State Curator David Schütz carefully peels back the tissue paper, a glint of copper peeking through.
“Curators hands always are juiced up on an occasion like this, no question,” he said.
He’s unwrapping a 114-year-old weathervane that spun for decades on the White River Junction railway station until it was stolen back in 1983. Decades went by, but then in 2022, VTrans got word that the weathervane had been consigned to the New York auction house Sotheby’s.
“I think we all sort of step back and look what we have. We have a stolen stolen train engine and coal car coming back. That would be that would be pretty fun,” said VTrans’ Judith Ehrlich.
Art Loss Register, an organization that identifies stolen art, confirmed the weathervane was White River Junction’s long-lost treasure. They covered the $2,300 shipping cost to bring it home.
Several weathervanes were stolen around Vermont around the ‘80s for their valuable material, but few have returned home.
Schütz is eager to research its journey. “It will be interesting to know the full story as to how it ended up at Sotheby’s, who previous owners were. Many of them wouldn’t necessarily know that it was stolen,” he said.
Boston-based manufacturer W.A. Snow Iron Works Inc. made the weathervane. It’s unclear how much it was worth back in the day but Schütz and Ehrlich say the historical value is priceless. And it’s in good condition, aside from some old watermarks. “One could clean it up. We don’t usually. We usually leave that because it tells the story, too,” Ehrlich said.
She says the story of the weathervane — and other Vermont artifacts — is essential to understanding and appreciating the state’s roots. “We live and work and play with them around us and they help to give value to current times by teaching us what came before.”
The state is searching for the right spot to display the weathervane, hoping to pay homage to its White River heritage.