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“I
was overwhelmed,” DeLind said Friday. “I was at a loss for
words. It was an overwhelming moment for me.”
The sticker from his DeLind Fine Art Appraisals was still on the
back of the framed print, just as it had been placed there in
2018.
“It was indeed mine,” DeLind said. “It came back full circle.”
Milwaukee landlord Tim Dertz told WISN-TV that he found the
print while cleaning out an apartment of someone who had been
evicted.
“It was kind of in a weird spot hanging on a wall,” Tim Dertz
told the station. “It looked like it had been there for a long,
long time because it had tons of dust across the top of it.”
Dertz said he showed it to an antique dealer friend who
recognized it as a Picasso and said it appeared to be the one
DeLind reported stolen in 2018. Dertz handed it over to police,
who then contacted DeLind.
“When they called me, I was in disbelief,” DeLind said.
The Milwaukee Police Department said in an email Friday that the
statute of limitations for theft and property crimes is
generally six years but the case remains under investigation.
Caroline Clancy, a spokesperson for the FBI in Milwaukee,
declined to comment.
The year it was stolen the piece was appraised at between
$35,000 and $50,000, DeLind said. He guessed that the value
hasn't changed much since then, but now given its story it may
be worth closer to $50,000.
The artwork remains in possession of Milwaukee police while the
client who had commissioned it for sale with his art gallery
works it out with his insurance company, DeLind said.
DeLind said his former business partner, who died in February,
was distraught over the theft in 2018 and called police every
year on the anniversary of the crime asking that they publicize
it again in the hope the Picasso could be found.
“He would have been over the moon about this,” DeLind said. “It
was special to him.”
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