Grass Valley Lighting Store Robbed Of Rare Tiffany Lamp Worth Thousands

GRASS VALLEY (CBS13) - A rare 6-foot tall Tiffany lamp worth thousands is missing after thieves stole it in the middle of the night. Now the owners fear they'll never see it again.

There are only 30 of the lamps in the world, and the owner of Illumination The Lamp Dr had two of them until a few days ago when a thief decided to haul one of them away.

"There was glass all over the place from the broken window," owner Arnold Goldberg said.

On New Year's Eve, thieves broke into Goldberg and Dave Boynton's lighting store and spent hours inside.

"They went through my refrigerator and had a diet doctor pepper on me," said Goldberg.

The two men sell rare pieces, some of which are worth hundreds, others, worth thousands.

"The other one that they took was complete with the shade," said Goldberg of the stolen lamp.

They noticed right away that one of the two of their dolphin lamps was gone.

"It's a big piece. It's six feet tall and weighs over 200 pounds," said Goldberg.

He says the thieves even used a store dolly to roll it out the front door.

The total loss is estimated at $30,000.

During the cleanup, Boynton noticed another missing item from his store. He couldn't believe the thieves would mess with a mug he'd just gotten with pictures of his grandchildren.

"It's like 'OK, you took a few lamps.' I can replace those, but these are mementos you never get back," Boynton said.

After searching every inch of his store, he finally found his mug outside.

The two store owners aren't so confident they'll see their lamp again. However, they do have a message for the thieves if they come back. They're happy to help them if they just ask.

"You don't have to destroy the town to do it, there's plenty of people willing to help," said Boynton.

Because the lamp is mostly made out of brass, Goldberg and Boynton are afraid that whoever stole it chopped it up and sold it as scrap metal.

The stolen dolphin-mermaid lamp has a stained glass shade with tropical fish.

Goldberg and Boynton plan to install surveillance cameras.