[MSN] Art dealers alerted to stolen Warhol prints

[Museum Security Network Mailinglist]

SAN FRANCISCO
Art dealers alerted to stolen prints

Marisa Lagos

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Police are advising art dealers to be on the lookout for stolen prints after a dozen lithographs, including a signed and numbered reproduction of Andy Warhol's "Marilyn Monroe," were lifted from a car in San Francisco earlier this month.

The 12 prints, all of which were signed and numbered, were stolen Feb. 3 from a car parked in the Stonestown Galleria, police Inspector Vince Repetto said Tuesday.

The owner of the car "is a private collector, and he was selling some of his works and had made contact with a local gallery," Repetto said. "We are looking at the possibility that he was targeted or followed from the gallery."

The lithographs, which the owner values at $250,000, were rolled into a tube.

"There were a dozen, including from Warhol, (Marc) Chagall and (Joan) Miró," Repetto said. "The Warhol was the most well-known and the most valuable."

Anyone with information is asked to call Repetto at (415) 553-9117.

http://sfgate.com/