Stolen Goldie could become ‘currency’
AUCKLAND: A Goldie painting estimated to be worth more than $1 million could become ‘‘underworld currency’’, used as a bargaining tool by gangs if it is not recovered, an artcrime expert says.
The painting, Sleep ’tis a Gentle Thing, of Ngati Maru and Ngati Paoa chief Hori Pokai, was taken from a Hamilton East property.
Police with a search warrant arrested three men at a Hamilton address on Saturday and recovered stolen property, but not the painting.
Paul Majurey, chairman of the Marutuahu Collective which includes Ngati Maru and Ngati Paoa, said Pokai was an ‘‘influential leader of chiefly whakapapa. It is of great concern this tupuna taonga remains missing’’.
‘‘While historical ancestral representations can involve issues of authenticity and respect, they are treasured as providing a tangible connection with beloved tupuna.’’
The works of Charles Frederick Goldie, who died in 1947 aged 76, have become some of New Zealand’s most valuable artworks.
His most expensive piece, Noble Relic of a Noble Race, of Ngati Manawa chief Wharekauri Tahuna, sold for $1,337,687 at an auction in Auckland in 2016.
Director Richard Thomson said he had sold another version of the stolen painting in 2008 for a thenrecord of $454,000, and believed this version could be worth ‘‘well over a million dollars’’.
University of Auckland Associate Professor Ngarino Ellis, who specialises in Maori art history and is a founder of the New Zealand Art Crime Trust, said
Apaintings by Goldie, and his contemporary Gottfried Lindauer, were often stolen because they were wellknown, attracting common thieves along with those specifically targeting them.
In 2000, thieves wrenched Goldie’s 1917 painting of Hera Puna from a wall in the Auckland War Memorial Museum.
Another Goldie painting of Hori Pokai was stolen in 2007, a small canvas portrait, from Auckland University, plus a Bible and a set of Colin McCahon manuscripts.
By far the largest and mosthighprofile theft in recent years was the ramraid at International Art Centre in Parnell in 2017, when thieves took two Lindauer pieces together estimated to be worth up to $900,000.
‘‘There has been a steady flow of thefts in New Zealand,’’ Prof Ellis said.
‘‘We only hear about the highprofile ones, so there are probably a lot more we don’t know about.’’ Prof Ellis said in many cases it was likely the thieves did not understand the paintings would be ‘‘virtually impossible’’ to sell.
‘‘When everyone has heard about it, seen the paintings, you’d have to be pretty stupid to try and sell them on the open market.’’
Other methods were through the dark web to international buyers, which was suspected at one point after the Lindauer theft.
The idea of art thieves ‘‘stealing to order’’ was actually ‘‘a bit of a myth’’, Prof Ellis said.
‘‘They become part of an underground currency, and if there is only one, it becomes a bit of a badge of honour.
‘‘Many top gang bosses, particularly overseas, like to see themselves as very cultured, and so it’s not uncommon for some of the major ones to have works of Picasso.’’
Two of the men arrested over the recent theft, aged 45 and 49, appeared in the Hamilton District Court on Monday, jointly charged with burglary.
They were both granted interim name suppression, one was granted bail while the other was remanded in custody until he could find an appropriate residence.
The man on bail entered a notguilty plea and would now reappear in court in March.
The 49yearold accused was remanded in custody without plea until February 2, and his lawyer indicated an application for bail would likely be made prior to that date.
The third man appeared later and was also granted name suppression, entering a notguilty plea. and would also reappear in court in March. The man was granted bail.