north river

SAUGERTIES, N.Y. — As North River Auction Gallery was making final preparations for its auction this past Sunday morning, a small army of police officers were making preparations of their own outside the auction hall. Unbeknownst to North River’s Dan Selvin and his crew, the heavily advertised 330-plus lots consigned from a Newport, R.I., estate consisted entirely of stolen merchandise that police had tracked to this auction house and others.

Selvin commented that at 8 am on Sunday, January 9, a mere three-and-a-half hours prior to sale time, a “whole team” of police officers entered the auction hall and “started flashing badges.” Present were New York State Police, Rhode Island State Police, the Little Compton Rhode Island chief of police and several local law officers.

“They were actually very courteous and acted very professionally towards us and to the 300 people we had in the hall previewing,” stated Selvin. “They explained the situation to us and we were able to identify everything from the consignment for them. They asked us to withdraw the items, which we did, and then we went ahead and sold the remaining 200 lots that were not from the estate.”

Of the 550 lots scheduled to be sold, 330 had come from the Newport estate. “Everybody understood and the police made an announcement to the crowd that we were victims of a scam. The auction went on as scheduled and we actually did quite well,” said Selvin.

The best part of the day for police — and Selvin, for that matter — came shortly after the officers informed the auctioneer that the material was stolen. “What can you tell us about the consignor?” queried the police.

“I can tell you that he is out back loading his car,” responded Selvin. Within moments, a yet-to-be-identified handcuffed man was being marched through the auction gallery.

“We have one individual in custody at this time,” stated Little Compton, R.I., Chief of Police Sid Wordell, “He was identified by the auctioneer and we took him into custody, he is being held as a fugitive out of the state of Rhode Island” and will be returned there to face charges.

Wordell commented that the items were linked to at least ten known robberies in the Rhode Island and Massachusetts area. Police were in the process of photographing and returning the items to Rhode Island so that victims could start identifying their belongings.

Stolen items consisted of paintings, including one John Wiggins, numerous pieces of furniture, including a Hepplewhite chest that was estimated to bring $30/40,000, china, silver, mirrors and more than 35 Oriental carpets. “One of the homes had everything stolen with the exception of the kitchen sink,” stated Wordell.

Some of the items were apparently recently sold at a Connecticut auction, stated Wordell, based on information gained during a debriefing of the suspect. Other items are scheduled to appear at an upcoming auction in Massachusetts, although police declined to reveal the name of the auction house.

Winterhalter Painting withdrawn from Rhode Island Auction House

By Jackie Sideli

CRANSTON, R.I. — Steven Fusco of Estates Unlimited was forced to make a tough call during the auction house’s first serious Fine Art sale as the anticipated top lot was revealed to be stolen Nazi art. According to the auction gallery, the dramatic and compelling oil on canvas by German genre and portrait artist Francois Winterhalter (German, 1806–1873) had been identified by the Art Loss Registry.

The Winterhalter had reportedly been the property of renowned German art dealer Max Stern. Stern had a gallery in Germany, and was forced by the Third Reich to sell his works at a fraction of their value at a Nazi friendly art gallery in Cologne. It had been purchased there by a relative of the consignor.

 “We had a customer who was actually enroute to the auction from California, who stated that he was willing to go to $150,000 for the Winterhalter,” said a frustrated Fusco. “Legally, we weren’t obligated to withdraw the painting, but we felt morally obligated to do so.”