Yesterday I read a post made on Facebook, by the Official Shirley Temple Group regarding lost/stolen original Shirley Temple costumes owned by collector and author, Tonya Bervaldi-Camaratta. The costumes were sent via UPS from her home in Florida to the R. John Wright Hollywood Convention which was held in Albany New York on September 7th-the 9th. Unfortunately UPS, “lost” the parcel which contained 5 original Shirley Temple screen worn film costumes (and a few hats), that were to be displayed at the convention. Because of UPS’s incompetence, they then auctioned off the lost package only 2 weeks after the box was mailed! More information about what Tonya has and is going through can be found at the Facebook group as well as the Davelandblog.

From the original Facebook Group post:

Five privately owned, screen worn, Shirley Temple costumes went missing during shipment with UPS in late August. Four of the five have been located after being sold as unclaimed merchandise in Kansas City. The fifth, still missing costume, is the gown from The Little Princess pictured here. It was likely also sold in Kansas City and may end up on the secondary market. If you frequent online or local auctions, tag sales or vintage clothing stores, please keep an eye out for this very distinctive gown.

                                                                                                                                            Photo-credit The Shirley Temple Facebook Group and Theriault’s Auctions.

According to Davelandblog, which has covered the story and includes updates, Tonya has gotten back four of the five costumes with the exception of the dress pictured above, which is still missing and not accounted for at the time of this article (article updated 10/17 to include new updates reported by Davelandblog).

The other 4 returned costumes are pictured below. It took quite a lot of work by Tonya and the Shirley Temple collecting community to track down and get the four below costumes back. You should read the entire interesting story at the Davelandblog. It’s quite a mystery with a lot of info and a mostly happy ending, though Tonya still is trying to locate the above dress and tow original Shirley Temple film hats as well.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Photo Credit: Davelandblog.