Heirloom stolen from library

MILLBROOK — The Millbrook Free Library’s Off the Wall Gallery space has held exhibits in the main entrance of the library for nine years, displaying artwork from local artists and others who have shared their treasures with the public. Until recently, the gallery has encouraged happy thoughts and creative energy. But last week a discouraged library director, Nancy Rogers, said a precious heirloom was stolen from the Needle Works exhibit on Sept. 10.“We think it disappeared late on Community Day; we are not 100 percent sure, but that’s the closest we can come to,” said Rogers. “That next Monday we noticed it was gone, which was very upsetting. Never has this happened in nine years. We have had all kinds of art over the years from paper sculptures, prints from around the world, local artists’ paintings, photographers, other textiles and nothing has ever been touched.”A needlepoint piece in an 8-inch by 10-inch frame was stolen. The needlepoint was of a gray fox with red leaves and flowers in the background. The piece was an heirloom that belongs to a longtime Millbrook family who prefer to remain anonymous. “First we thought maybe a kid wanted to play a prank and took it off the wall and put it on one of the shelves,“ said Rogers. “We searched the whole library for it and it’s just not here. We will make every attempt for this family to get it back. We are still waiting for a picture of it from the person who made it.”The Millbrook Free Library staff spent a week searching the library for the needlepoint piece, but after searching extensively and talking to the owners of the heirloom they insisted on filing a police report. The police report was filed on Monday, Sept. 19. A police officer checked local shops for the missing item but nothing was found. “Someone just fell in love with the piece and took it home,” guessed Rogers. “It’s just really hard because you ask people to put their personal family possessions up and they feel very secure that nothing is going to happen to them. Then something like this happens and we just ended up taking the whole exhibit down because we didn’t want to risk losing anything else.”The family is offering a substantial reward to whomever returns the needlepoint piece. Rogers added the piece may be placed in the library’s return box or whomever has possession of it may come forward to return it and no questions will be asked.“It was a very cherished piece in the family and that’s our concern,” said Rogers “This was a piece that was in the family for a long time. We just hope whoever has it finds a way to get it back to us.”

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