Cowboy statue returned to Arizona owner decades after being stolen

SCOTTSDALE, AZ — It was after midnight one summer night in 1985 when an alarm went off at a downtown art gallery.

Police found a hole in the front window. The thief – or thieves – entered, pulled out a two-foot-tall bronze statue of a cowboy and disappeared.

Art galleries didn’t have video cameras at the time, so there were no clues as to who might have taken the statue. The police looked for fingerprints – but found nothing. Gallerists even printed flyers, offering a reward of US$1,000.

“There were many pieces in the gallery that were worth more than that. But they wanted it,” said Nancy Emmons, whose parents Bob and Betty Mammen owned the gallery called Mammen Gallery II.

Nancy Emmons

The statue depicts a cowboy taking a break while holding a can of chewing tobacco. It’s called “Just a Pinch,” named after a 1970s tobacco commercial slogan: “Just a pinch between cheek and gum.”

New Mexico artist Gordon Snidow created about 40 similar statues, using his son as a model. Nicknamed “Pinch,” the statue that ended up in the Scottsdale gallery was the 20th.

Betty Mammen purchased Pinch because one of her customers, who was a winter visitor, wanted the statue. But before the customer could return to Scottsdale to pay and pick up the art, it was taken.

“She was devastated,” Emmons said of her mother’s reaction.

Betty Mammen was still making payments toward the $12,488 statue. Receipts that Emmons found in a box of his mother’s belongings show that payments continued even after he was robbed, until the statue was liquidated.

She remembers her mother occasionally checking in with the police to see if there were any leads.

“They really had nothing to go on,” she said.

At some point — it’s unclear when — the FBI added a photo and description of the missing Pinch to its National Archive of Stolen Art, a database of stolen art and cultural property. The database went online in 2010, making the information available to the public.

Last year, ABC15 investigators asked the FBI for a list of artwork stolen from Arizona and then profiled several treasures, including the missing Pinch.

FBI

The ABC15 story caught the attention of Arlin Cook, who lives in Gilbert.

“My daughter’s boyfriend saw the show — the ABC15 investigation — and said, ‘Hey, that statue you have was on this (show),’” he said.

The Cook statue matched the FBI description down to the number “20” engraved on the base along with the artist’s name.

ABC15 is committed to finding the answers you need and holding you accountable.

Send your news tip to [email protected]

He inherited the statue after his bachelor brother-in-law died in 2022. The cowboy sat on the fireplace in the living room of his brother-in-law’s Scottsdale home for more than 30 years.

“I’ve been there for as long as I can remember,” Cook said.

He’s not sure how the statue ended up in his brother-in-law’s hands – in the same town and just a few miles away from the art gallery where it disappeared.

“He wouldn’t have stolen. I think he probably got it because he dealt in antiques,” he said.

Pete Scholz/ABC15

When Cook learned the statue was likely stolen, he called the FBI and spoke with ABC15.

“We felt like, well, we don’t want this if it gets stolen,” he told ABC15.

FBI agents went to his home and collected the statue.

But it wasn’t as simple as returning it to the Scottsdale gallery. The gallery had already closed a long time ago. Bob and Betty Mammen were no longer alive.

Nancy Emmons

ABC15 contacted his daughter, Emmons, about the statue. She eventually found a box with her mother’s paperwork, showing the payments her mother had made for the statue.

“I wish he had recovered when my parents were still alive. They would have loved that,” Emmons said. “I’m sure they’re looking down and very happy he’s back.”

Pete Scholz/ABC15

Emmons said he called Cook and left a voicemail, thanking him for turning Pinch over to the FBI. She hopes to meet him in person someday.

“I’m so impressed with it. These days, you rarely hear that someone does the right thing like that,” she said.

For now, Pinch is sitting in the living room of her Chandler home.

She hopes it eventually finds a permanent home in a museum where people can see it and learn its history.

Email ABC15 Investigator Anne Ryman at [email protected]call her at 602-685-6345 or connect at X, formerly known asTwitterandFacebook.