An "extremely heavy" bronze hippo

September 6, 2019 11:35 AM

Hippo sculpture stolen from Chilstone ornament makers [BBC article from January]

After global news coverage, Chilstone received a "huge cuddly hippo all the way from California to cheer us up" and "donated "Harry the Huggable Hippo" to the children's ward at Pembury Hospital".

Previously stolen bronzes: Mystery of the stolen Moore solved [The Guardian, 2009] Unrecoverable statue by John Waddell [MetaFilter, 2007].

posted by readinghippo (16 comments total)

Pretty sure it's been sent to Hungary. Hungary.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 11:53 AM on September 6, 2019 [19 favorites]

NOW'S the time for my St. Augustine joke!
posted by Chrysostom at 12:04 PM on September 6, 2019 [10 favorites]

It's not quite all hippos all the time on MeFi, but there definitely seems to be a trend.
posted by Aardvark Cheeselog at 12:39 PM on September 6, 2019 [2 favorites]

Yeah, it's like the hippos have gone bezerk over here.
posted by phooky at 12:41 PM on September 6, 2019 [1 favorite]

If you're suggesting someone here might be behind the theft, that's a very interesting... hippothesis.

Hippothetically speaking.
posted by Mchelly at 12:58 PM on September 6, 2019 [11 favorites]

Don't name names, please. That would be a HIPPO violation.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 1:36 PM on September 6, 2019 [3 favorites]

I say we make the hippo of highest status our new leader. Our present system of government already involves a great deal of rank hippocracy.
posted by zamboni at 1:55 PM on September 6, 2019 [2 favorites]

What's the difference between a hippo and a zippo?

Nothing - they both get stolen!
posted by Greg_Ace at 2:18 PM on September 6, 2019 [3 favorites]

Someone call Commander Vimes....
posted by Scattercat at 2:20 PM on September 6, 2019 [3 favorites]

What's the difference between a hippo and a zippo?

Nothing - they both get stolen!

One of them has to be...lighter, though.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 2:28 PM on September 6, 2019 [8 favorites]

"It is a hugely distinctive object and it is unlikely the offenders will find it that easy to sell on as scrap or to a collector."

A bunch of random chunks of bronze would be hard to sell on as scrap? Does not compute.
posted by Meatbomb at 5:52 PM on September 6, 2019

A bunch of random chunks of bronze

Moore's The Archer was once uncharitably described as such.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 6:09 PM on September 6, 2019

Suss out the Porters lodge.

"Yes sir, multiple lumpy Chuck's, about 1/2 A Tonne. One, sir, is shaped like whisker."
posted by clavdivs at 7:55 PM on September 6, 2019

There needs to be some sort of "do no harm" pledge Dad Jokers and punners take before commenting in threads like this.
posted by carsonb at 6:49 AM on September 7, 2019 [2 favorites]

A bunch of random chunks of bronze would be hard to sell on as scrap? Does not compute.

I recently read a mystery novel where one of the side-plots was the theft of a bronze sculpture weighing several tons. The metal is finally recovered, but it's already been cut up for scrap - it's welded again in a different manner to make a new artwork (IIRC the original is boringly classical complex of figures, the new one is a weird collage of body parts) that sells for far more than the value of the original.
posted by each day we work at 7:15 AM on September 7, 2019

"It is a hugely distinctive object and it is unlikely the offenders will find it that easy to sell on as scrap or to a collector."

According to my sculpture instructor, many of the people stealing large chunks of bronze already used a cutting torch to nick the thing in the first place. So they wouldn't have trouble cutting it up.

He has a recurring gig reinstalling brass plaques on bridges. He claims that it's a newly cast plaque every time.

But I know he owns a cutting torch.
posted by sebastienbailard at 9:47 PM on September 7, 2019 [2 favorites]