SAN DIEGO -- A Rancho Santa Fe bell dating from the 1700s and worth more than $2,000 is missing, 10News reported.

"I was really angry. How dare some little person come along and take the bell and probably melt it to get money for it when we had gone through a lot just to get them hung up," said Sharon Fabry, of the Rancho Santa Fe Historical Society.

The Rancho Santa Fe Historical Society raised $13,000 to install five bells, and group member David Wiemers said the money isn't the issue -- it is the bell's historical value.

"El Camino Real was originally used to mark all the various missions going up along the coast. In 1909, it was decided to put commemorative bells into place to mark this very historic route," said Wiemers.

The owner of the California Bell Company created a marker that was a cast-iron bell that hung from an 11-foot guidepost. The first bell was placed in 1906 in downtown Los Angeles. Since 1902, the plan was to place one bell along each mile of the El Camino Real highway.

"Whether its hoodlums or someone just wanting a commemorative bell … beside the point, these are very important, they are historic. They mean something to the community, and the community worked so hard to get these bells here," said Wiemers.