How could the cops know about it unless she tried to sell it? If she tried to sell it to a legitimate art dealer then she couldn’t have known it was stolen. If she tried to sell in underground then it must have been an undercover cop that nabbed her.
Any other theories?
I don’t know how an art authority could possibly know that it was being sold in a flea market. They don’t usually attend such low brow markets.
The only thing I can think of is that the authorities were more aware of the location of this particular painting than they were willing to admit to and just were biding their time until it saw daylight.
RENOIR 1841-1919 on the frame and someone sells it for $7???? They don't bother to check to see if the painting is a Renoir???
And the daughter of a woman who restored works of art like Renoir just happens to find it in a flea market????
It's been in the family for 60 years and the daughter knew it was stolen and came up with the $7 flea market story so she could claim it as hers and unload it for a load.
If only there was more information than that excerpt, somewhere...
She did try to sell it at auction.
From Judge to Determine Fate of Renoir Stolen in 1951
After it was appraised at $75,000 to $100,000, she made arrangements to have it sold through an auction to be conducted by the Potomack Company. The auction house announced shortly before the sale that it was pulling the painting from its listings after a Washington Post reporter uncovered its history.
How she got it could have been a true story or it could have been something she just made up to cover how she really got it. That's why it's being investigated.
She said she stored it in a plastic trash bag for two years, even in a shed at one point, before having it authenticated as a genuine Renoir.