Friday, November 23, 2018

Stolen Artwork

Received an email from the daughter of a collector who died unexpectedly of a heart attack - I am sharing in the hope that the eyes of the Internet can help... here's a bit from her email:
I had plans to keep most of her vast collection of artwork, especially the mermaids. It’s a longer story but her house was ransacked. They came with a giant moving truck and took pretty much everything that wasn’t nailed down. (The neighbors thought we hired movers. These were good con artists and they vanished into thing air.) My heart was shred to pieces. The material possessions are one thing, whatever. But the art... her passion for art was intense and she instilled it in me. Losing the artwork was one of the lowest blows I’ve ever received.
I've advised her to report it to the FBI's stolen art unit... but I will also keep an eye on the secondary art market to see if any of the below pieces show up...

1 comment:

Guy Mondo said...

In 1979, while on business in NY for the weekend, my apartment was similarly ransacked. I came home to find the deadbolt on the door missing and the entire contents of my apartment gone, including the blinds from the windows! The twist in my story is that my neighbors took advantage of the situation and helped themselves to whatever the thieves left behind. Fortunately, one of them was a friend who stored a few items for me and was the one who told me what happened. Unfortunately, the police were of little help as they said they couldn't do anything unless I could prove I owned the stuff they took. I never recovered 20+ years of my own art and photography plus my collection of art and vinyl records.
In the case you relay above, it is very likely that the artwork will end up in a dumpster somewhere. Thieves will only keep what they can sell quickly and, even if one of them liked the drawings, they'll probably end up as gifts or in a pawn shop or thrift store.