In 1978, Michael Bakwin went from being a quiet art collector to being the victim of the largest unsolved robbery from a private residence in Massachusetts. Returning from a holiday weekend, he found that seven precious paintings had been stolen from his Stockbridge home.

And now he feels he’s a victim again, as he finds himself forced to go to court to prevent four of the stolen works from being put up for auction at Sotheby’s.

The paintings, worth about $3 million, surfaced last spring in London, in the possession of the Erie International Trading Co., an obscure organization with a Panamanian address. When Bakwin learned that the company had plans to auction the works, he asked the Art Loss Register, a firm that tracks stolen art, to intervene.

More at The Boston Globe

Posted: 10|1|05 at 9:44 am. Filed under: US News.