Salmon Arm curling club needs your help to recover stolen antique rock

SALMON ARM – The Salmon Arm Curling Centre has lost a piece of its history.

An antique granite curling rock from the 1940s went missing during a mixed bonspiel and dance event at the curling club last weekend and is believed to have been stolen, general manager Darcy Seghers says.

The rock, one of a pair, was purchased in 1946 from Harry McDermot’s Hardware in Salmon Arm, had survived a fire in 1976 that devastated the old curling rink.

The rocks were to be part of a historical display at the curling centre, but a proper display case had yet to be built.

“There were a lot of people here on Saturday night, then on Tuesday morning we discovered it was missing. We thought maybe someone moved it around, but it’s totally gone. We searched the whole building,” Seghers says.

The club believes someone stole the roughly 42-pound rock, and is now imploring them to give it back.

“It’s just disappointing that someone would do that,” Seghers says. “It’s unfortunate because it is a piece of memorabilia.”

The pair of rocks were purchased back in the day for $60 but are now valued at $2,500 to $3,000 a piece, Seghers says.

“This kind of granite rock that it’s made from is now very rare,” he says. “Some people collect these things.”

The club intends to report the rock as stolen to the RCMP, but is hoping that through social media, whoever has it will return it.

“We just want it back, no questions asked,” Seghers says.

He’s asking whoever has it to leave it at the front door, and is also reminding the public to keep an eye out on buy and sell pages.

Anyone with information can contact Seghers at 250-832-8700.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Charlotte Helston at chelston@infonews.ca or call 250-309-5230. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.