MANY THEFTS

Hokitika Guardian, 13 April 1932, Page 7

MANY THEFTS

OF VALUABLE PAINTINGS. LONDON, Marcli 4. Detectives have recovered paintings by old masters, carved ivories, and other art objects which were worth £27,000 when they were stoleii in London last year. They were found in an obscure shop in Southwark, Inquiries were recently being made which the police hope will lead to the trucking down of the gang of art thieves who, during the past few years, have been responsible for the theft of treasures worth £IOO,OOO. The recovered property, which was stolen from the offices of Mr H. A. Haase, in Oxford Street West, London, was badly damaged. Among the paintings was Gainsborough’s Countess of Chesterfield,” a picture known by art experts the world over, which was sold some time ago for £17,000. Other famous pictures found included. “A portrait of Miss Grant,” by Reynolds, “A Portrait of a Gentleman,” by Gainsborough, and pictures by Van Dyck and Steen. After backing tlie pictures from their frames, the thieves folded them in swell a way that the paint in some places has badly cracked and flaked off. The detectives have also taken possessions of some Pei'ian rug. valuable tapestries and a number of seventeenth centurv c-arvod Chinese figures. ‘‘l am afraid most of the pictures are utterly ruined,” said Mr Haase, after he had inspected the recovered articles. ‘I cannot say yet how many thousands of pounds’ worth of damage has been done. It is heart-breaking.” The recovery of the property suggests that art thieves have not the elaborate channels with which they are credited for the dinosal of their spoil, Detectives visited a number of curio simps in the East End in the hope of getting on the track of the Earl of Minto’s picture of the first Countess of Minim bv Reynolds, which was stolen two years ago, together with jewellery worth amuiy thousands of pounds.