JP) Master Art Forger Paintings Stolen
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OSAKA -- Thieves have stolen 74 works of art by Elmyr de Hory, a Hungarian
regarded as a genius forger of masterpieces, from an Osaka textile company,
police said Wednesday.
Police are searching for a real estate agent, who disappeared soon after the
paintings went missing, in a bid to question him over the incident.
He had originally left the copies of masterpieces in the care of the textile
company as collateral for loans he took out.
"We haven't had the works valued, so we don't know how much they're worth,"
said a police investigator.
The real estate agent who entrusted the works to the company told its
officials he had bought them about 10 years ago for 200 million yen.
The textile company had accepted the offer of the 74 works as collateral and
had stored them in its headquarters building in Chuo-ku since 1996.
Among the works were almost flawless copies of masterpieces by Picasso,
Renoir and Van Gogh.
On Sept. 17, the real estate agent contacted the textile company, telling
employees he had found a buyer for the artwork. He said he wanted to check
up on it and was given a key to the warehouse where the pictures were
stored.
Soon after, the pictures were discovered missing and the real estate agent
had vanished without a trace.
The textile company filed a report to the police the following month.
(Mainichi Shimbun, Japan, Nov. 26, 2003)
http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/news/20031126p2a00m0dm021000c.html