
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 21, 1990                   TAG: 9003212160
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-2   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS                                 LENGTH: Short

FBI SEIZES OBJECTS FROM WAR SHIPS

A collector who advertised for sale artifacts taken from two Civil War ships that sank in the James River said he was unware he was violating the law.

Federal agents seized a roomful of artifacts from a private museum at the Williamsburg Pottery Factory and the home of Fred L. Stevens of Falmouth, near Fredericksburg. No one has been charged.

The FBI investigation was started after historians saw Stevens' ad in the North South Trader's Civil War magazine.

The FBI seized brass keys, a clay pipe, an ink well, an oil lamp, wood from the ships' hulls, doorknobs, pottery, a cannonball, ropes and brass belt buckles, according to a search warrant filed in U.S. District Court in Newport News.

by CNB