A 262-year-old rare artifact stolen more than 60 years ago from the Dearborn Historical Museum was returned Tuesday — just in time for the city's 90th birthday.

The artifact, a powder horn on loan from the Detroit Historical Society, went missing in 1952 just before the opening of an exhibit entitled "Saga of a Settler." The piece is significant to Dearborn's history because it belonged to John Nowlin, one of the earliest settlers of "Dearbornville," now part of the city of Dearborn.

Dearborn was founded in January 1929 when voters approved a charter to merge the cities of Fordson and Dearborn.

The powder horn, which was recovered by the FBI's Art Crime Team in Philadelphia, was returned to the historical museum Tuesday at a news conference. FBI Special Agent Jack Archer said the powder horn was used in the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812.

It was made at Fort No. 4 in Charlestown, New Hampshire, on June 30, 1757, for a soldier by the name of Lt. Abel Prindel. It is engraved with Lt. Prindel’s name, rank and the date on which it was made. It also is carved with the following verse:

I powder with my broth ball

Aheroe like do Conquer all

Tis bestabrod with foreign foes to fight

And not at home to feel their hateful spite

Where all our friends of every sex and age Will be exposed until theircreuel rage

In 1833, Nowlin came by wagon to Dearbornville from his homestead in New York. It is unclear how Nowlin initially came to possess the powder horn. However, it had been handed down through several generations of the Nowlin family, including John's son, William, and remained in the Nowlin family’s care and possession until June 1947, when it was sold to the Detroit Historical Museum.

"William Nowlin is one of the most boring people I know," joked Jack Tate, acting chief curator of the Dearborn Historical Museum. "He was a farmer, it was big trip for him just to go down to downtown Detroit. But in so many other ways, that's what makes it fascinating because he's the everyman. Not everyone is an astronaut, president, or congressman. He's the salt of the earth kinda guy."

"For it to come back home is really exciting for all of us here in the community."

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The Dearborn Police Department conducted a theft investigation that initially yielded no clues. In 1991, the powder horn appeared for auction at Christie’s auction house and was sold to an unknown buyer. In 2017, Dearborn police requested the assistance of the FBI after Tate convinced the department to reopen the case.

'"It's not a cold case, it's not a cool case, but a frigid case,"' Dearborn Police Chief Ronald Haddad said regarding his meeting with Tate. '"Where are going to find this powder horn?' But I could see the passion and he felt a great indignity for the community for all these years being around the artifact. So, I graciously and politely took his paperwork and turned it over to our detectives."

In November 2018, FBI’s Detroit Division and Art Crime Team — Philadelphia Division were able to recover the powder horn from an auction in Pennsylvania.

The FBI's Art Crime Team was created in 2004. According to the agency's website, the team is located at the FBI headquarters in Washington D.C., and is coordinated through the Art Theft Program. Over its 15-year history, the Art Crime Team has recovered more than 14,850 items valued at more than $165 million.

The Art Crime Team is composed of 16 agents, each of them responsible for addressing art and cultural property crime cases in an assigned geographical area. The agents assist in art-related investigations worldwide, diving into cases such as the theft of Elvis Presley's memorabilia, to pre-Colombian South American artifacts.

In a 2009 Free Press article, Bonnie Magness-Gardiner, the former manager of the FBI's Art Theft Program, said tracking stolen items are difficult because the U.S. does not have a law requiring ownership documentation for works of art. Even when a stolen item is recovered, the original owners can have a hard time proving the art is theirs.

Said FBI Special Agent in Charge Timothy Slater: "I wanted say publicly, to thank Chief Haddad and his staff for the resilience that it took and the tenacity that it took to spend this many years staying after this."

Slater also thanked the FBI agents in Michigan and in Philadelphia for their dedication.

The FBI does not plan to charge anyone with the crime, Slater said, as there is little evidence. The person that stole the artifact back in the 1950s may be deceased.

Once it is returned, the Nowlin powder horn will be on short-term display through Spring 2019 at the Detroit Historical Museum. Following that, it will be used in “Frontiers to Factories,” a permanent exhibit that focuses on the city’s early history.