Dawn Kimbrel, Registrar

On April 9, 2019 a private citizen contacted the Museum to inquire if the staff was aware of an eBay auction item listed as a “collection of arrowheads from Rhode Island dig of Harrie M. Wheeler, Haffenreffer Museum circa 1928-1950 in East Greenwich” selling for $500.00. After checking the eBay listing,Thierry Gentis, Curator, pulled out an old file labeled “1987-1988 theft of Archaeological Collection.” The file contained a polaroid photo showing a group of thirty-four quartz and quartzite projectile points mounted to a board. The HMA accession, 85-827, clearly labeled on one of the projectile points, corresponded to one of over a hundred items, including other Native North American projectile points and small stone tools from New England, as well as clay fragments of figures from Teotihuacan, Mexico, stolen from the museum.

Dawn Kimbrel, Registrar, relayed all of this information to Brown University Public Safety and to the Bristol Police Department. The latter opened an investigation and contacted eBay to identify the seller. Then, because the seller lived in another state, the Department of Homeland Security and Homeland Security Investigations assumed the lead in the effort to recover the property. 

These projectile points represent part of the Museum’s collection of more than 20,000 projectile points from the Narragansett Basin that help to document places where ancestors of contemporary Native American communities lived some 8000-1000 years ago. The Harrie M. Wheeler Collection came to the Museum in 1929 as a purchase by Rudolf F. Haffenreffer. In 1985, two of Harrie M. Wheeler’s grandsons, Irvin L. Wheeler, Jr. and  Harry E. Wheeler, donated additional items, including these projectile points, to the Museum.  

Investigators used the Museum’s detailed provenance records, catalogue cards, newspaper stories, affidavits, and gift receipts verifying the original transfer of ownership to form the basis of a warrant to seize the property. In June 2019 Homeland Security Agents met the sellers and took possession of the items without incident. The sellers claimed to have acquired them a year earlier when they saw them advertised on Craigslist and traded a case of wine for them. 

The U.S. District Attorney filed a Petition for Remission of Forfeiture and through a series of official notices and proceedings, a Federal Judge granted permission to return the projectile points to the Museum. A Homeland Security Agent couriered them to Rhode Island.

Finally, in January 2020, the law enforcement team gathered for a formal hand over to Robert Preucel, Director; Kevin P. Smith, Deputy Director and Chief Curator; and me, as representatives of the Museum. The projectile points have now been safely reunited with the rest of the collection.

The HMA staff extends its appreciation to all who contributed to the recovery of the stolen property, especially Zachary A. Cunha; James M. Green; Timothy Kearns; John J. Mlynek; Armand Pereira; Nicole Pickard; Michael J. Polouski; Michael Roots; John Sundelin; and Aaron L. Weisman. 

Cover photography by Juan Arce