Two signs worth a combined value of $500 were reported stoles from in front of the Fogg Art Museum and the Computer Center last weekend, police said yesterday.

The hand-painted sign swiped from the Fogg displayed the name of the museum and hours of operation. The Computer Center sign had advertised an exhibition of Life magazine photographs there, officers said.

"It's a painful loss to us," Phillip Persons, assistant director for operations at the Fogg, said yesterday. "The sign was actually a real piece of artistry."

Parsons said the sign had been designed by freelance signmaker Richard Lipton of Cambridge, adding, "sign-writing of that quality is rare."

"It's most annoying to us," Cynthia von Thuna, assistant to the director of the Carpenter Center said of the theft.

Von Thuna and Parsons said the signs would be replaced, but could not estimate when they would be installed.

David Priestly, the security manager for the Fogg, said yesterday that the new sign there would be secured by special screws that could not be removed without a special screwdriver.

The sign at the Fogg, valued at $250, was reported taken between last Saturday night around 5 p.m. and Sunday around 12:30 p.m., police said.

The sign at the Carpenter Center was reported taken between last Thursday at 5 p.m. and Friday at 1 p.m., police said.

Other incidents reported to Harvard University police during the period from March 2 to 9 included:

Tires Taken: A victim told police that someone took two rear tires from his car in the Business School parking lot between Feb. 29 and March 2. The car was left on blocks, the victim told police. The estimated cost of replacing the tires was $150, police said.

Wallets Filched: Freshmen were warned in this week's issue of the Yard Bulletin, the Freshman Dean's Office publication, not to leave wallets in backpacks because of the "rash" of wallet thefts.

Freshmen were also advised to call porters who guard the Union if they see any suspicious persons in the Union.

Several thefts have occurred in the Union in recent weeks. At least five wallets were reported taken in the last month, as well as coats and knapsacks.

A female victim told police that someone took her red fold-over wallet from a pocket-book on the counter at Au Bon Pain restaurant at about 4:40 Monday afternoon. The wallet contained $150 in cash and credit cards, the victim told police.