[MSN] An Eccentric's Art Collection Now Seems Ill-Gotten. In the strange, strange world of the late William Milliken Vanderbilt Kingsland, nothing is turning out to be as it seemed.

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October 20, 2006
An Eccentric's Art Collection Now Seems Ill-Gotten 
By ANDY NEWMAN and DAN BARRY
In the strange, strange world of the late William Milliken Vanderbilt
Kingsland, nothing is turning out to be as it seemed.

Mr. Kingsland was for decades a curmudgeonly fixture of Upper East Side
society, an occasional art dealer and full-time gossip who appeared to know
everything about the buildings of the neighborhood, their families and their
secrets. He functioned as a sort of self-appointed one-man landmarks
preservation committee while cultivating an air of mystery about himself. He
did not dissuade people who assumed he was descended from New York City
royalty. 

When Mr. Kingsland died without a will in March, at the age of 58 or perhaps
62, those who thought they knew him were surprised to find out two things.
One, first reported by The New York Times, was that he was born Melvyn Kohn.
The other was that his apartment on East 72nd Street was crammed with
artworks, including a bust that appeared to be by Alberto Giacometti.

Now comes a third revelation: some of Mr. Kingsland's prize art seems to
have been ill gotten. Harvard University said yesterday that an 18th century
portrait from Mr. Kingsland's collection - a piece by John Singleton Copley
that was sold to a Madison Avenue gallery owner for $85,000 over the weekend
- had been stolen from the university's Fogg Art Museum in 1971. 

Ditto for a portrait of a former Harvard president, missing since 1968. The
paintings' imminent return was reported yesterday in The Harvard Crimson. 

According to a court official familiar with the investigation, the
Giacometti bust was stolen, too, and Christie's had been scheduled to sell
it. Another person familiar with the case said Christie's had withdrawn at
least one work from sale. Christie's was looking into the matter last night
and would not comment.

Colin Stair, the auctioneer who sold both portraits said that the Copley's
dubious provenance was discovered by the dealer who bought it, Alex Acevedo.
The painting, of the second Earl of Bessborough, was bought by Harvard in
1908 and never sold.

"Monday morning, Alex called me and said, 'Colin, guess what, I think we
have a problem,' " Mr. Stair said. Mr. Acevedo could not be reached last
night.

Mr. Stair's auction house in Hudson, N.Y., had received a contract from New
York City's public administrator to auction 250 of Mr. Kingsland's works. He
is now contacting every buyer and undoing the entire auction, which yielded
$200,000. 

"It's a real bummer," Mr. Stair said.

The court official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the
investigation is continuing, said that the city's public administrator,
which handles the estates of those who die without wills, might have missed
the fact that the artworks were stolen because the thefts went back decades
and were not on any computerized registry. 

Mr. Stair said the city told him that it had clear title to the works. He
said he did not have the resources to research the thousand-plus works that
pass through his hands each year.

Despite his dismay at learning he had sold stolen artwork, Mr. Stair said he
took a certain pleasure in watching the story unfold.

"It just adds another layer to the mystery of Billy Kingsland," he said.

William K. Rashbaum contributed reporting.

http://www.nytimes.com/