An art dealer in Miami helped a Cuban museum discover about 70 pieces of artwork had been stolen from it — and those pieces were worth about $1.5 million combined.
CNN reports it all started when art dealer Ramon Cernuda bought a piece for $15,000.
After doing some research on his painting, he found out his art was registered the National Museum of Fine Arts in Havana.
Cernuda contacted the museum, and after investigating, employees discovered dozens of works had gone missing from the museum's warehouse. (Via Miami Herald)
http://www.museonacional.cult.cu/
According to the International Business Times, it's not clear when exactly all the pieces were stolen from the museum. And how did thieves get away with this? It seems criminals cut the stolen works out of their frames.
Cernuda says he has located other stolen works from the museum in Miami, telling the Miami Herald, “To see three or four of those works together is not common ... And I saw 10 that had been cut with, like, an Exacto knife. The thieves didn’t even bother to take out the nails from the stretchers.”
Cernuda has turned the painting he bought over to the FBI. He says the agency is investigating the large-scale theft.
