Stolen Lindauer ‘for sale on dark web’ - asking price $1m
Police are hunting for a stolen Gottfried Lindauer painting that has apparently come up for sale on the dark web for nearly $1 million.
The painting was one of two valuable Lindauer works stolen in a ramraid from an Auckland gallery eight months ago.
The seller claims the listing is for the original,133year-old portrait of Chief Ngatai-raure.
‘‘Here you can bid on an [sic] TOP SECRET original Painting from Bohemian painter Gottfried Lindauer that was stolen in New Zealand, Auckland 2017,’’ seller Diabolo wrote.
It has been on the site for at least three weeks and is running as a bitcoin auction, as well as having a fixed ‘‘buy now’’ price. There had been two bids on the artwork.
The leading bid was 35.1129 bitcoin, which equals about NZ$417,000. The instant purchase price is close to $1m.
Detective Inspector Scott Beard said officers were still investigating the theft of the painting in April.
‘‘Police are aware of the [dark web] listing but as our investigation is ongoing, we are unable to discuss specific details,’’ he said.
Auckland University senior lecturer Dr Ngarino Ellis, an expert in Ma¯ ori art history and a founding trustee of the Art Crime Research Trust, said she hoped finding the painting was a priority for police.
‘‘We don’t have an art crime squad in the New Zealand police because our art market and our art theft market thankfully isn’t that big, but we like to think that moves will be taken and the police will have the capacity and expertise to go in and find out who this Diabolo is.’’
She said there were doubts over the listing’s authenticity.
‘‘The screen shots that I was sent showed the painting out of its frame with a post-it note on the front with a date. It’s very rare to have a painting of that quality and type out of its frame because the frame is part of the work.’’
There were no images of the back of the artwork, which made her even more dubious, because often works can be identified by signatures or notes on their backs.
She said if the listing was legitimate, potential buyers would likely be extremely wealthy art collectors.
‘‘When we’re talking about the big wigs of the art world, in terms of the black market, they’re often billionaires or multi-millionaires who will have a number of different homes. They will have whole galleries filled with stolen art,’’ she said.
‘‘There is certainly a really strong market and strong interest in Maori and Pacific art, historically, this kind of colonial painting,’’ Ellis said.
In broken English, Diabolo said in the listing he was expecting ‘‘rich People and collectors (Maybe Government)’’ to bid for the painting.
Diabolo said he has had the painting for three months and was not the original thief nor did he know the people that stole it in Auckland.
International Art Centre spokesman Ian Stuart said the paintings, which were due to be auctioned on April 4, were each worth between $350,000 and $450,000.