Grinch cleans out cache of antiques

PALMER - Alaska State Troopers are looking for burglars who made off with truckloads of antiques from a local shop.

Bill Lowe owns Treasure Trunk Antiques at Mile 37.5 of the Glenn Highway and said he discovered Nov. 29 that a pair of storage buildings housing "a lifetime's worth" of antiques and unique items had been stolen.

"I'm thinking they might have made more than one trip there," he said, adding the buildings held "everything I've collected in the last 40 years. They almost cleaned me out. There were 14 or 15 bicycles with the balloon tires, Schwinn bicycles from the '60s that were in mint condition, a Texaco gas pump from the '50s. ... These are things you don't see anymore, and there's not a whole lot of antiques in Alaska."

Also gone are Alaska Native dolls and baskets, a 13-pound mastodon tooth and a 100-year-old large brass cash register, Lowe says in a post on his Facebook page.

For Lowe, who lives in Minnesota and still has a house in Palmer, the burglary was another blow for his family. Two months earlier, his wife died following a 15-month battle with brain cancer.

"I stopped everything in the world just to take care of her," he said. "After she passed away, I was thinking, ‘What else can go wrong?'"

Troopers investigating the theft report two buildings were forced open and about $50,000 in antiques were stolen. That amount is actually low, Lowe said. As an inventory of items taken has been put together, "I'm up over $100,000, and it may be $110,000 or $120,000 by the time we're done. I had put all my personal antiques in there as well; old books, ledgers."

In addition to reporting the theft to troopers, Lowe has also enlisted the help of social media to gather leads.

"I need help," reads a post on his Facebook page. "In the last week, some people robbed my antique business in Palmer, Alaska, and they cleaned me out. They backed up trucks and loaded them."

When contacted for comment on Monday, Lowe said he's hopeful the Facebook community can help expedite the investigation. He said he's already received one lead.

"I know 100 people (on Facebook), and if those people know 100 people, ... and I put a reward out," he said. "I got one lead of someone who traded a polar bear rug for a four-wheeler."

A polar bear rug was one of the items Lowe lists on Facebook as stolen.

Anyone with information about the theft can contact Alaska State Troopers in Palmer at (907) 745-2131.

Contact Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.