STOLEN: One of the bronzes missing from Riverfront Park.

  • STOLEN: One of the bronzes missing from Riverfront Park, “Conversation with Myself,” by Lorri Alcott.

Police report today that three pieces of sculpture, including the one shown above, have been stolen from the Vogel-Schwartz Sculpture Garden in Riverfront Park, a combined theft of some $20,000 worth of art. Police fear the bronzes may have been stolen for scrap.

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A parks worker discovered the thefts this Friday morning, a police report said.

UPDATE: A co-worker said she noticed two of the sculptures missing more than a week ago, but it didn’t occur to her then they’d been stolen.

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The report says the two-part “Conversation With Myself,” shown at top, was apparently worked back and forth until the metal broke near the ankle. Thieves also took “Birds of Happiness,” by Dee Clements, a three-foot-high piece which depicted two cranes in flight. A grinder was used, they believe, because the base was intact but the birds were gone. Also missing is “Uptown Saturday Night,” a one-foot-tall piece of a dancer. Its mounting bolts also were ground off from the bottom of the sculpture.

Though worth $20,000 as sculptures, the works of art are worth far less as scrap, perhaps about $2.35 a pound, one scrap dealer said. They were small pieces and the combined weight wouldn’t have been significant.

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UPDATE II: Leslie Peacock has more at Rock Candy including a call by City Director Dean Kumpuris, godfather of the sculpture garden, for more security.

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