Michelin's Stained Glass Investigation Closes in on Missing Windows
The team set up by Michelin to track down three original stained glass windows missing from London's iconic Michelin House building are reportedly “closing in” on the missing windows. In order to find the iconic relics of Michelin’s history the company set up a confidential hotline and webpage offering a “window amnesty” in exchange for information as to the stained-glass creation’s whereabouts. Now in the latest instalment in this tale of intrigue, Michelin is reporting that the phone lines have “proved busy with calls and tip-offs from across the UK.”
The tyre giant issued the amnesty two weeks ago in an attempt to get back the three missing original stained glass windows that once adorned the sumptuous Art Deco inspired Michelin House building on the Fulham Road, London. Michelin reports that the hotline and web pages have been “hot with rumour and speculation, with over 300 visits a day to the website since the amnesty was announced and a host of phone tip-offs that are helping to close the net on the missing windows.” Information including sightings has so far centred on the windows being last seen in the 1980s at Michelin storage facilities, a possible link to them being whisked out of the country to Australia and an anonymous call claiming they were sold onto a memorabilia collector based in the South East.
Peter Snelling, Michelin’s UK head of communications, said: “We have had an excellent response to our appeal and some of the information we have been receiving makes us believe we are getting closer to finding out the whereabouts of the windows. There has been some really useful information supplied, but what we need now is that final specific call or website message that takes us directly to the stained glass windows. The amnesty now gives the chance for those who know what happened to come forward and end the mystery once and for all.”
The original stained glass windows were removed from the building for safe keeping following the outbreak of World War II in 1939 and were transported to Stoke-on-Trent to be stored safely until the war finished. A post-war audit at Michelin’s Stoke site found the windows to be AWOL and despite rumours of sightings in the 1960s, they remain missing to this day.
The special confidential amnesty tip-off page has been set up on the Michelin 100 year anniversary website at www.michelin.co.uk/amnesty. Information relating to the missing windows can be left anonymously by the user – contact numbers or e-mail addresses can be left if the user wishes to do so – which will then be forwarded to Michelin’s Missing Windows Investigations Team. Any clues or leads can also be left on the confidential phone line at 01782 402118.
The Michelin House 100 year anniversary celebrations will see a week of events – including a special VIP celebration dinner – take place in January 2011.
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