The arrest of a well-known map dealer with apparently purloined antique maps in his pocket has libraries around the nation checking their collections.
The discovery of an X-Acto knife blade at Yale's Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library led to the arrest of E. Forbes Smiley III, the Chicago Tribune reported Thursday.
In a pocket of his blazer, officers found a rare print of a map of the early American colonies. They also found seven other maps in Smiley's briefcase.
They charged Smiley, 49, who lives in Martha's Vineyard, Mass., with larceny of three centuries-old Beinecke maps, which investigators have had appraised at $178,000. He was released on $175,000 bail.
Unable to determine the origin of four of the maps, investigators have called on librarians at other top rare-book institutions to check their records to see if Smiley had been there and whether any maps were missing.
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