Williams hunting license stolen prior to N.H. auction
A hunting license once issued to former Red Sox left fielder Ted Williams was reported missing last week from a New Hampshire auction house, just days before the Hall of Fame ballplayer's personal effects were to be sold.
John Pappas, auctioneer at the Knotty Pine Auction Service in West Swanzey, N.H., said the one-of-a-kind license, issued to Williams by the state of New Hampshire in 1970, disappeared around 5 p.m. Thursday during a preview of the auction, which was held Saturday morning. The value of the license, which was bundled with Williams's fishing hat and an aluminum pinback, had an estimated worth of $300 to $500, but could have fetched upward of $1,000, Pappas said.
"We had a tremendous amount of interest in it, and we had a lot of very disappointed people," he said.
Also reported stolen were notes Williams had made about fishing spots and lists of friends' phone numbers he had jotted down, which had been tucked into the fishing hat. The fishing hat was left, however.
The Swanzey Police Department told the New Hampshire Union Leader Saturday that a report had been filed about the missing items.
The auction featured personal items from the living estate of Dolores Wettach Williams, his third wife. The two were married between 1968 and 1972 and shared a house in Putney, Vt., where Williams pursued several hobbies after his retirement from baseball, including hunting, fishing, and car collecting.
"He bought a lot of cars in the Nashua/Manchester area," Pappas said. "People in the area got to know him, so they got caught up in the cult mentality."
Pappas said it would be tough for a thief to resell the items because of their uniqueness.
"There's only one 1970 New Hampshire hunting license with the name 'Theodore Williams' on it," said Pappas. "We want to let people know that if someone offers it to them privately, it's a stolen object."
