Crime & Safety

Thieves Smash Glass Stache Window, Steal Telescope

Lee Street shop was notified of its broken window by a neighboring business.

Smokers paradise the Glass Stache was robbed over the weekend of a glass, handmade telescope worth about $2,500.

The thieves smashed the window of the shop at 222 N. Lee St. that sells wares for smokers.

“It’s a very unique piece of glass,” Stache co-owner Quinn Taylor told Patch. “If it pops up anywhere, it can easily be recognized.”

Find out what's happening in Old Town Alexandriawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Artist Erik Anders of New York made the piece. He created it in a Burlington, Vt., competition “The Pipe Classic,” that includes a time allotment of only 12 hours to create an artwork.

The piece was available for purchase although never had a fixed value. “It wasn’t a piece that very many people could afford and while it was for purchase, it’s not something that really had a price tag," Taylor said. "I’d take offers.”

Find out what's happening in Old Town Alexandriawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

He estimates the value of the missing piece at about $2,000 to $2,500.

Taylor said the shop is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the thieves.

Taylor said the shop has a good security system, but the thieves did a quick smash and grab without entering the store and so the alarms didn’t go off.

“We had a pretty good security system, but it will now be added onto at this point,” Taylor said.

Taylor added that if anyone has any information related to the theft, to email the store at Contact@GlassStache.com.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.