Man Finds Stolen Painting, Realizes Who The Thief Is

When they saw what the man had in his hands, they couldn’t believe their eyes. What was even more baffling was its price: $2000. To that man, it was just an old painting he had found in his uncle’s old house. But he didn’t know it was worth about $165 million.

And that wasn’t the end of the story. The painting was stolen many years ago from its original owner; and it would be the center of a series of events that would change this man’s life forever.

House Cleaning

Our protagonist is a man named Ron Roseman from Houston, Texas. When it happened, he was in one old house in Cliff, New Mexico. It had been his late aunt and uncle’s place. He was just clearing out the place, but he gathered some old trinkets in the process.

He intended to take them to some antique dealer and see if he could get a bargain. But he discovered something else; something that would shake his whole world.

Beloved Uncle

Jerry Alter, Ron’s uncle, had been a stand-up man. He and his wife Rite were loved and respected by the whole community and their large family. However, not many people knew that the couple had a wild, crazy past.

Only some selected few had the privilege to listen to some of Jerry’s stories back in the day.

After Ron found out the truth about the painting, he couldn’t help but wonder if everything he thought he knew about his uncle was reality or fiction.

Incredible Find

One thing Ron could have never imagined was that among the trinkets his uncle used to keep in the old house, there was a Willem de Kooning canvas painting that had been stolen decades ago.

It used to be known as the “crown jewel” of the University of Arizona Museum of Art (UAMA). It’s worth about $165million. Nobody expected it to be found in some old man’s garage. But that wasn’t all there was to it.

Stolen

Ron only knew the details about the painting when a federal agent gave him a call, right after he sold it.

He had sold the painting, along with other items, in an auction for just $2,000. But someone had seen the painting, recognized it, and told the authorities about it. People couldn’t believe that the famous painting that had been stolen decades ago had ended up in a corner antique shop.