Rare art robbery foiled
September 30, 2024 | By Lisa Scagliotti Some quick action by a store employee and state police helped foil a robbery in Waterbury Center on Sunday afternoon, recovering a rare 19th-century painting.
Barbara Woodard (left) and daughter Taunya Dunster with the portrait of Prince Albert returned to Sir Richards Antiques & Fine Art Center in Waterbury Center. Photo by Lisa Scagliotti
According to Vermont State Police Sgt. William Warner, 56-year-old Perry Mason of Colchester, was arrested and cited to appear in Washington Superior Court in Barre to face a charge of grand larceny.
Sir Richards Antiques & Fine Art Center has been in operation in Waterbury Center along Vermont Route 100 since 1971. "It's the best road in Vermont to be in business," owner Barbara Woodard said. Photo by Lisa Scagliotti
Employee Taunya Dunster at Sir Richards Antiques & Fine Art Center on Vermont Route 100 called police shortly before 4 p.m. on Sunday to report that a painting valued at $2,495 had just been snatched off the wall inside the shop.
Warner responded and Dunster was able to provide images from the store’s multiple security cameras that had a clear view of the man removing the painting from the wall as well as the vehicle he drove out of the store’s parking lot.
With those details, Warner left to search the area and spotted the vehicle a short distance up Route 100 at about 5:30 p.m.
Mason was driving the vehicle and he matched the description and image of the suspect who took the painting, police said. Mason was taken into custody without incident and turned the painting over to police, Warner said. He was taken to the Berlin barracks where he was issued a court citation for Nov. 14 to answer to the grand larceny charge.
Browsers weren’t shoppers
On Monday morning, the painting was back in its spot on the wall beside the main entrance at Sir Richards. Shop owner Barbara Woodard was there along with her daughter Taunya Dunster who was minding the store alone on Sunday afternoon.
A sign on the main door to the shop alerts shoppers to the store's security system. Photo by Lisa Scagliotti
Dunster recounted how two men entered the shop and browsed around for some time. One was talkative, chatting with Dunster while the other strolled from room to room among the packed displays of antiques stacked on shelves, arranged on the floor, and filling the walls. The store’s inventory spans centuries with collectibles from Vermont, the United States and other countries. Many items are marked with tags with short descriptions of their history and origins.
The two men weren’t the only people in the shop with her at the time, Dunster explained. It was when she went into another room to help other customers that she heard a sound back near the entry – something metal falling to the floor.
By the time she returned to the main counter area, one of the men was gone. The other remained briefly and soon walked out as well. It was then that Dunster noticed the empty spot on the wall where a small portrait in an ornate gilded golden frame had been hanging just minutes before.
A security camera image shows a man reaching for the Prince Albert painting. Photo courtesy of Sir Richards
She checked the security camera video where she saw one of the men remove the frame from the wall and its metal hanging bracket fall to the floor. The man picked up the bracket and put it back on the wall, she said.
He then is seen sliding the painting under his baggy sweatshirt before leaving through the store’s main door. An outside camera caught him leaving in a Toyota SUV with a temporary plate and a spare tire mounted on the rear dorm she added.
She called police and Warner arrived soon afterward. Once Dunster shared those details, Warner left to search the area.
“I couldn’t believe how quick it was,” she remarked on the short time it was before hearing the suspect was in custody.
“It had to be a record,” Woodard, her mom, chimed in. “He got pulled over and he had the painting in his vehicle.”
The two were relieved to have the special piece returned on Monday morning.
A rare antique
The portrait of Prince Albert dates to the late 19th century. Photo by Lisa Scagliotti
Woodard shared the story of the painting -- a portrait of Prince Albert, husband to England’s Queen Victoria in the mid-19th century. Albert died in 1861 at the age of 42. The queen commissioned 200 portraits of Albert to be done and the painting by German artist Franz Xaver Winterhalter hanging in the Waterbury Center antique shop is one of them, acquired at an estate sale, Woodard said.
The card on the piece notes that it’s painted on porcelain and says: “The grief experienced by Queen Victoria has become legendary, with the monarch wearing black for the rest of her life and sleeping next to a photograph of her late husband.”
Smiling and pointing to the piece back on the wall on Monday, Woodard said, “He’s back. He gets another chance.”
Perry Mason | Vermont State Police photo
Woodard and Dunster praised Sgt. Warner’s quick response and efforts on Sunday to track down the suspect and their painting. And they shared their relief that the case was solved so quickly given that the shop is located in a building where Dunster and her family live and that has other apartments.
They also said they were pleased at how well their security system worked, pointing out multiple cameras outside the shop and around the store trained on each of its crowded rooms.
A bit of irony wasn’t lost on them, either, given that the suspect shares a name with the famous TV criminal defense lawyer from the late 1950s and 1960s.
“Perry Mason didn't notice the cameras,” Woodard quipped.