Ding dong, are you missing a bell? Acting on a tip, police recovered a 5,300 pound copper bell that was stolen last week from the garden of St. Mary’s Cathedral in West Oakland, California.

The tip told law enforcement that the bell was near a West Oakland salvage yard. Arriving at the scene, they found it was filthy and covered with filthy tarps, but was otherwise unharmed.

In addition to its hefty weight, the bell measures in at 4 feet tall and 5 feet wide. It really makes you wonder about who had the equipment and knowledge to be able to pry it loose from the pedestal in the garden and transport it to a location close by a local scrapyard.

Rising global prices for copper have coupled with an American economic downturn to fuel a surge in metal and copper theft.

But rather than dwell on that, the church is just happy to count its blessings. “This is wonderful news, a mini-miracle of sorts, for the parishioners of the Cathedral and all Catholics in the Archdiocese of San Francisco,” George Wesolek, Director of Communications told KCBS. “The wide press coverage of the theft helped make it harder to get away with this… Now we need to find a way to bring the bell back to its place at the Cathedral.”

Stolen SF Cathedral Bell Recovered Near Oakland Scrap Yard [KCBS]

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