While the rest of the world was partying it up in Miami this past Thursday, someone swiped a Picasso artwork worth nearly $90,000 from a booth inside Art Miami. The stolen piece disappeared sometime Thursday night or early Friday morning.
David Smith, owner of the Netherlands-based Leslie Smith Gallery, explained to the Miami Herald that he arrived Friday 10:45 a.m. to his booth at Art Miami, a satellite fair near Art Basel, where the piece was nowhere to be found.
"I’ve been doing art shows all my life ... I’ve never, ever had anything stolen, ” said Smith, who reported the burglary to Miami police.
The missing artwork in question is a 16.5-inch silver plate made by Picasso in 1956. Entitled Visage aux Mains, it is No. 16 of 20 plates and is estimated to worth $85,000.
Authorities dusted the wall, on which the plate hung, for finger prints and are currently looking into the crime. Unfortunately, there is no video surveillance of the theft, and no witnesses saw the heist go down either.
It was last seen at 10:30 p.m. by a guard on patrol on Thursday. Strangely enough, nothing else from the booth was taken. The thief left behind a Picasso ceramic, worth $365,000; but then again, it's probably a lot easier stealing and stowing away a small plate.
[via New York Post]