Person who delivered part of missing 800-pound hammer to Healdsburg police won't be getting reward

You'll remember the giant, 800-pound sculpture of a ball-peen hammer that was swiped from Healdsburg in October and went missing until an unidentified local resident said they found the steel head on their property and returned it.

That person now is somewhat bent out of shape at not being paid the $1,000 reward that artist Doug Unkrey put up following the theft of the sculpture from the lawn of the Healdsburg Community Center.

The individual who returned the hammerhead sans its 21-foot-long redwood handle has remained anonymous. It was that person's lawyer, Izaak Schwaiger, who notified Healdsburg police on April 11 the head had been found.

Schwaiger says that his client went to considerable effort to have the hammerhead lifted onto a trailer and delivered to the police.

The attorney notified Judy Voigt, whose Voigt Family Sculpture Foundation places public art, that the finder hoped to collect the reward.

Voigt responded there wouldn't be a reward.

She pointed out in an email to the lawyer that Unkrey offered the $1,000 not for the return of the hammer but for information leading to its recovery. She added that Unkrey told her “that since this was an anonymous event and he only retrieved part of the artwork no reward is forthcoming.”

Summing up, Schwaiger said the artist got back the hammerhead and his client got the shaft.