As it turned out, the painting of a snow-covered swath of artist Andrew Wyeth's property in rural Pennsylvania had been stolen only a few miles away eight years earlier.Ī group of burglars had broken into a River Oaks estate in 2000, partied and trashed the place while the owners vacationed in Colorado. Instead, Simpson verified his suspicions and quietly helped Houston police set a trap. He convinced the suspicious men to let him lock the watercolor in the gallery's safe so he could evaluate it in order to make an offer. “They wanted me to buy the painting outright”, Simpson recalled Monday of an exchange that played out in May. figured there was only one likely reason the men treated his business like a pawn shop and were willing to take quick cash rather than waiting to auction the piece later for more money: It was stolen. Two newcomers walked into the upscale Simpson Galleries in Houston, Texas looking to make some quick cash, but they didn't seem to notice they were carrying the work of an American master, let alone that it was worth as much as $200,000.
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