In the first part of the 20th century, Doug Poll’s grandparents bought a bell to notify their children and farmhands about the end of the work day.
When Doug was growing up, he remembers his parents using the bell to call him back to their Roseville-area farmhouse for dinner.
Now 84 years old and retired, Doug keeps the bell on his Kitchener property as a souvenir of the past – or rather, he did until Tuesday, when he discovered that it had been stolen overnight.
“He was very, very upset about it. He was heartbroken,” Debbie Poll, Doug’s daughter, tells CTV News.
The cast-iron bell has little monetary value.
Peter Land, co-owner of Land and Ross Antiques in Shakespeare, estimates that it could fetch about $150 at auction – and much less if sold for scrap.
“Bells like that don’t really have a high value in the open market, but where they have a lot of value is to families and people who have personal attachments,” he says.
Debbie Poll says she’s phoned a number of scrapyards just in case, and been told she’ll be contacted if a bell turns up.
She says her father will be happy to take the bell back, no questions asked – as long as it comes back.
“It might mean nothing to them, but it means the world to my father,” she says.
