Police hunt for bronze mask

Joni Mitchell's immortal verse, "You don't know what you've got 'till it's gone," might best apply to Don Freed's predicament.

A bronze mask of the influential Canadian singer's face is missing and Freed, a Winnipegger and her former flame, is trying to get it back.

"It could be hanging on the wall of someone's rumpus room and they don't even know what it is, or maybe someone knows very well what it is and the value and cultural significance of it," said Freed, a 57-year-old professional singer and songwriter.

Mitchell gave the mask to Freed in 1994 during their eight-year relationship. It went missing when he tried to give it back in 2005 following a chance meeting in her former hometown of Saskatoon.

Freed left the mask, wrapped in bubble wrap and placed in a shoebox along with a letter, at the Delta Bessborough Hotel's front desk.

Freed and Mitchell, 62, realized the mask was missing in May when she told him it wasn't delivered to her hotel room. Saskatoon police are looking into the disappearance.

"Some mistake has been made or something nefarious has happened," said Freed, a married father of a young girl. "At first I was very angry and dismayed, now I'm just hoping that with some public awareness it may turn up."

Saskatoon police Staff Sgt. Kirby Harmon said officers don't know if the mask was stolen.

Anyone with information about the missing mask is asked to call Harmon at 1-306-975-8448.

Staff at Delta Bessborough don't remember accepting Freed's package, but the hotel isn't disputing his claim, general manager Andrew Turnbull said.

Turnbull said he recently met with Saskatoon police, and the hotel is co-operating during the investigation.

PLASTER MOULD

"We certainly provided them the names of people that were working that day to see if they can jog anybody's memory," Turnbull said. "To date, nothing has come of that."

Freed said he's disappointed because he didn't snap a picture of the mask.

"It's got every nuance of her face on it," Freed said. "Anybody who's aware of her can look at it and know who it is."

He said Mitchell, a Grammy Award-winning performer, wasn't upset the mask is missing. A Toronto woman made it in 1985 from a plaster mould of Mitchell's face.