[MSN] Hung for a month, then nicked

[Museum Security Network Mailinglist]

Hung for a month, then nicked

A Charles Goldie painting stolen in a $200,000 art heist had been hanging at Auckland University less than a month.

The thieves also took a rare unbound bible that the university was given three years ago, and seven framed Colin McCahon poems.

Auckland police put the value of the haul at $207,000, with the Goldie painting, Planning Revenge, and the bible worth $100,000 each. They were taken between December 21 and Wednesday.

Detective Sergeant Richard Veacock said the burglary had been carefully planned and only the three items had been taken. Theft to order was rare in New Zealand but did happen.

Whoever had the stolen items would be faced with a limited market because they were national treasures.

"My fear is that they might look at sending them overseas."

Mr Veacock said police were talking to everybody who had access to the library and would review security video tape.

"There is a lot to watch, which may give us a lead; they do have a good system at the university, they don't skimp on their security."

University spokeswoman Emma Timewell said the items were from the special collections area of the library, and when the university was open they were always under guard.

The families who donated the items had been told and were shocked.

Goldie painted Planning Revenge in Sydney in 1921, copying an earlier study of chief Hori Te Ruinga Pokai, of Ngati Maru and Ngati Paoa.

Last year it was given to the university by Diana and Gordon Green, of Canada. Mrs Green's mother bought it while visiting her cousin, Lady Myers, in Auckland in the 1930s and the family had long wanted to repatriate it.

The bible was one of only 200 published and was donated by American poet Raymond Danowski in 2004.

In keeping with his wishes, the two-volume work was retained in its unbound state, as it would have left the printing press.

Published by Oxford University Press in 1935, it was designed by Bruce Rogers, who created the Centaur typeface.

Though Rogers based the bible's appearance on early printed books, the Lectern Bible was produced on the Monotype typecasting machine and considered a pioneering work, showing how beautiful books could be created using modern technology.

# Click on the audio player then click play to hear Auckland Detective Sergeant Richard Veacock talk to Fairfax Media's Michael Field about the burglary at Auckland University

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/marlboroughexpress/3919520a6422.html