All Blacks rare scrapbook goes home

DAVID HALLETT

HOMECOMING: Antique dealer Steve Purcell, left, returns the All Blacks book to its owner, Alistair Steel.

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A rare All Blacks scrapbook stolen and sold to an antique dealer has been returned to its rightful owner.

Antique dealer Steve Purcell realised the book he had bought commemorating the Invincibles All Black team of 1924 was stolen when he saw the story of the theft in The Press.

The book, given to team member Jack Steel and passed down to his son Alistair Steel, was thought lost when Alistair's car was stolen from a Christchurch workingmen's club car park on March 4. The car was recovered after it was seen being driven by a 14-year-old boy but the book, in a bag in the boot, was missing.

Purcell said he bought the book for $500 from "a young fellow", not the boy seen in the car, who had found it dumped near the Waimakariri River. Several other books were also found dumped in the area by a motorbike rider.

As soon as he learned the book was stolen, Purcell contacted The Press as he "didn't want to be involved in anything like that".

"The last thing you want is to have things stolen," he said.

Police were investigating the role of the boy who found the book.

- © Fairfax NZ News