Shocking; theft of Abraham Lincoln's hand

People can be so funny. Someone stole Abraham Lincoln’s hand. The crime
had no witnesses. There are no suspects. The
police are not even certain when the hand
disappeared.
About all anyone knows is that a plaster sculpture
of the 16th president’s hand, proudly displayed for
years at the Kankakee County Museum, has been
missing from its shelf since at least Dec. 11.
Any art theft would be jarring in Kankakee, a
working-class city about an hour’s drive south of
Chicago, but because of its connection to Lincoln,
the loss of this sculpture has touched a nerve there.
Museum officials had thought that the theft might
have been a prank, and that the plaster study would
resurface in a few days. The police hoped someone
might provide information about the theft after
seeing a Facebook post by the department, which
included photographs and described the hand as
roughly “the size of a 8-10 pound ham.”
The local newspaper, The Daily Journal, published
an editorial pleading for the thief to come forward.
“We are blessed to have such a fine museum
with an impressive inventory,” the editorial
said, “but the collection is not complete
without Lincoln’s hands.”
The hand was the work of George Grey Barnard, a
sculptor who spent part of his boyhood in Kankakee
around the time that Lincoln was assassinated, and
whose admiration of Lincoln was a recurring theme
in his art. The sculpture was displayed along with
other renderings of Lincoln in a wing of the county
historical museum built specifically to showcase
Mr. Barnard’s work.
Connie Licon, the museum’s executive director, said
the hand sculpture had been on display since at
least 1991. This was the first art theft she said she
could remember in more than 20 years at the
museum.
“We were devastated. It just brought us all to
the floor,” said Ms. Licon, who was alerted to
the theft by a custodian who noticed the vacant
spot on the shelf. “We’re a small museum, and
we just don’t acquire pieces like this.”
The police report estimated its worth at $5,000, but
described the artwork as “invaluable.”
“There’s almost no way to put a value on
something like that because there’s no
market,” said Jack Klasey, a longtime museum
volunteer and local historian.
The theft occurred at the beginning of the
museum’s busiest month. In December, groups of
schoolchildren and others streamed through the
museum — past the Barnard sculptures, tributes to
local sports heroes and artifacts honoring three
Kankakee County natives who served as Illinois
governor — to admire Christmas trees decorated by
civic groups.
In addition to being outraged, museum visitors were
perplexed. “I think it’s kind of crazy,” said Kelly
Lambert, a college student whose aunt works at the
museum. “Why would someone want to walk off
with a fake Abraham Lincoln hand?”