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This Belter laminated rosewood slipper chair is valued at about $850. Image courtesy Charles McKemie.

Trailer loaded with antiques stolen from hotel parking lot

Tom Hoepf
Tom Hoepf
This Belter laminated rosewood slipper chair is valued at about $850. Image courtesy Charles McKemie.
This Belter laminated rosewood slipper chair is valued at about $850. Image courtesy Charles McKemie.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – A trailer packed with antiques to be sold at an auction house in Mississippi was stolen from the parking lot of a hotel where the owners were staying overnight Sunday.

“Our U-Haul trailer was taken off or vehicle during the night and was gone with our furniture the next morning,” said Charles McKemie of Griffin, Ga., who suspects the thieves did not know the contents of the locked trailer. “It’s quite a loss for us … many years of collecting and scrimping and saving, all gone in one night.”

Included in the trailer was a J.W. Meeks parlor set in heavily carved laminated rosewood. The set, worth about $12,000, consisted of a settee, armchair and two side chairs.

Also stolen were a John H. Belter slipper chair in carved laminated rosewood, a Meeks carved rosewood slipper chair, a Waverly Plantation rosewood slipper chair, a Chippendale-style 1876 armchair with a green upholstered seat, a walnut Victorian side chair with a carved Minerva head on the crest, a Victorian walnut parlor table and an Empire mahogany sofa.

Anyone with information about the stolen property should contact McKemie at 770-329-4043 or e-mail him at Peakangus@cs.com.

This J.W. Meets parlor set was among the antiques stolen early March 22 from a hotel parking lot in Birmingham, Ala. Image courtesy Charles McKemie.
This J.W. Meets parlor set was among the antiques stolen early March 22 from a hotel parking lot in Birmingham, Ala. Image courtesy Charles McKemie.