[MSN] Butterfly Vanishes From Winter Antiques Bash, `Reward' Offered

[Museum Security Network Mailinglist]

Butterfly Vanishes From Winter Antiques Bash, `Reward' Offered

By Lindsay Pollock

Feb. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Who made off with the butterfly?

As several hundred junior-society swells downed drinks alongside Jane
Lauder, Charles Rockefeller and the like, a cast- iron butterfly disappeared
from the 53rd Annual Winter Antiques Show during the exclusive Young
Collectors' Night benefit on Jan. 25.

A donation ``reward'' of $1,000, no questions asked, has been offered for
the butterfly, which was part of a rare, late- 19th-century, 6-foot French
statue of a kneeling Cupid.

The Winter Antiques Fair, held at New York's Park Avenue Armory, is run by
and benefits East Side House Settlement, a charitable organization. The
annual $150-ticket party is sponsored by Harry Winston and Sotheby's.

``Amour'' had been sold by garden-statuary dealer Barbara Israel on the
show's opening night to a private collector whom she declined to name but
described as ``one of the most generous contributors to East Side House
Settlement.''

Israel estimates that the Cupid, whose selling price she also declined to
state, is worth approximately $10,000 less without the missing part. A
dealer in garden statuary for 20 years, she said ``Amour'' was one of the
most important pieces she had ever offered.

Israel said that she and the anonymous philanthropist would donate the
$1,000 to East Side House upon the butterfly's return.

Tipsy Prankster?

``The Young Collectors' party is a busy night, and we are right next to the
bar,'' said Israel, who thinks a tipsy prankster might be the culprit. She
said the butterfly had been loose, but it would have taken a good ``swipe
with the hand'' to set it free.

Jake Bright, who has attended five Young Collectors' parties, first told
Israel that something was wrong.

``I was standing near her booth and all of a sudden there was a noise, and
we heard something hit the ground,'' Bright recalled. ``A guy and one or two
girls scurried to pick something up. They didn't look suspicious, they
looked embarrassed.'' The man wore a gray suit and eyeglasses, Bright said.

Israel said that she raced to the front of the armory and alerted security.
Guards searched guests' handbags and dug into plants and trash containers.
Flyers were distributed to other exhibitors at the fair.

Catherine Sweeney Singer, the Winter Antique Show's executive director, sent
a letter dated Jan. 28 (the show's last day) to those who had purchased
tickets to the Young Collectors' evening saying that the butterfly had
``disappeared'' and requested its return, mentioning the $1,000 donation. A
photocopy image of the missing appendage was included.

The iron ``Amour'' is based on an 1802 marble work called ``Cupid Presenting
a Rose to a Butterfly,'' by Denis-Antoine Chaudet. The butterfly is a symbol
for Cupid's lover Psyche, according to Israel.

``The butterfly represents the soul,'' she said, and the miscreant ``has
stolen the soul of my statue.''

(Lindsay Pollock writes on the art market for Bloomberg News. The opinions
expressed are her own.)

To contact the writer of this story: Lindsay Pollock at
lindsaypollock at yahoo.com