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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Eye On Boise

Long-lost doorknob returns…

Sen. Joe Stegner, R-Lewiston, displays an antique doorknob - an original from the state Capitol - that was anonymously left in a box on his desk. Many of the heavy brass doorknobs, heavily etched with the state seal, disappeared over the years. Stegner said he intends to get it back on a Statehouse door. (Betsy Russell)
Sen. Joe Stegner, R-Lewiston, displays an antique doorknob - an original from the state Capitol - that was anonymously left in a box on his desk. Many of the heavy brass doorknobs, heavily etched with the state seal, disappeared over the years. Stegner said he intends to get it back on a Statehouse door. (Betsy Russell)

Sen. Joe Stegner found a box on his desk today, and in it was one of the original missing antique heavy brass doorknobs from the state Capitol, with the state seal and the saying "Esto Perpetua" deeply engraved into its surface, along with a note. Stegner has been leading lots of tours of the renovated state Capitol, and he often mentions that many of the original doorknobs have disappeared for souvenirs - possibly for former legislators - over the past 90 years. The note said a tour participant knew someone who had one, and talked that person into returning it to the state. "I intend to get it on a door," Stegner said.



Betsy Z. Russell
Betsy Z. Russell joined The Spokesman-Review in 1991. She currently is a reporter in the Boise Bureau covering Idaho state government and politics, and other news from Idaho's state capital.

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