Rockwell Sport Mystery on Lazybones Art Theft Discovery Anniversary

Summary: Complications and privacy persist to the Rockwell Lazybones art theft discovery anniversary long after its, and the Rockwell Sport mystery, recoveries.

The 2014 recovery of Norman Rockwell's Sport (1939) brought successful closure to a Friday, Sep. 13, 2013, art theft: Rhonda Stratton @Raceycleo, via Twitter March 17, 2014

Waylaid Rockwell paintings are newsworthy even though complications and privacy still allow sparse details on the stolen Rockwell Lazybones and Rockwell Sport mystery recoveries on the Rockwell Lazybones art theft discovery anniversary.

The years 1954 and 1976 in New Jersey and 2017 in Pennsylvania broached Lazybones' backstory and 2013 in New York and 2014 in Ohio broadcast Sport's. Cherry Hill Police Department, Chubb insurance and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Philadelphia called the 1954 purchase a break-in June 30, 1976, discovered July 2. Nobody divulged much about Sport, purchased May 22, 2013, and discovered missing at 7 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time Sept. 13, 2013 (11 p.m. Universal Coordinated Time).

A public ceremony March 31, 2017, exchanged insurance payout for titled possession of Lazybones whereas Sport's non-public return exacted a 500-mile (804.67-kilometer) trip March 9, 2014.

The Rockwell Lazybones and the Rockwell Sport find common ground in their shared month of progression from lost to found status and in their similar heritage.

Provenance gives the 27.5- by 22-inch (69.85- by 55.88-centimeter) oil on canvas coveted collector status as The Saturday Evening Post magazine cover for April 29, 1939. It has ownership by model Frederick Hildebrandt (Sept. 26, 1889-Jan. 23, 1961), before gifting Sport (Man in Fishing Boat) around 1950 to his sister and brother-in-law. It indicates ownership in Parkchester, New York, by Gertrude Hildebrandt Kear Lowe (Oct. 21, 1900-March 31, 1964) and Frank Crawford Lowe (Sept. 3, 1899-March 3, 1991).

Descent in the family jumped the subsequent Rockwell Sport painting mystery from Birmingham, Alabama, in 1973 to unspecified ownership at a $1,085.00 purchase price through Sotheby's.

Lost no more: Lazybones, 1919 oil on canvas by Norman Rockwell, is also known as Boy Asleep With a Hoe or as Taking a Break: Public Domain, via FBI Art Theft

Special Agents Jake Archer, Timothy Carpenter and Michael Harpster and retired Special Agent Robert Bazin furnished sparse details on the recovery from a Philadelphia-area antiques dealer.

Backstories kept a low profile for the subsequent Rockwell Sport mystery until two-and-one-half months after the 37th Rockwell Lazybones art theft discovery anniversary July 2, 2013.

Relocation from temporary storage to new ownership led to missing or stolen status for the Rockwell Sport painting of a drenched fisherman in a listing boat. Global Security and Investigative Services and New York Police Department (NYPD) records mentioned Welpak Art Moving and Storage at 58-60 Grand Avenue, Maspeth, Queens, New York. Welpak's spokesperson noted, "We are cooperating fully with the NYPD, and we are yielding to their expertise with the hope for an expeditious and positive outcome."

Cooperation, as of Oct. 2013, between a private investigator retired from the Rockland County Sheriff's Office and the NYPD obtained resolution of the Rockwell Sport mystery.

Mark Fishstein, art crime-specialized detective and son of a commercial artist, pointed out, "Companies like this one are experienced with packaging and moving fine art pieces." Twenty years of NYPD cases qualified the missing portrait as not the "hot potato" of "an underground collector who buys stolen art for his underground collection."

Julian Radcliffe of Art Loss Register in London, United Kingdom, recalled that "art has just been lost in warehouses or gets sent to the wrong address."

Private Investigator Dean Golemis said nothing of identities or intents upon securing the storage-wrapped painting after surviving telephone-directed instructions on Interstate 80, New York to Ohio. The Rockwell Sport mystery, like Lazybones, typifies "good old-fashion police work, interviewing people, interviewing people. It was a very difficult case. I got some lucky breaks."

Private investigator Dean Golemis followed telephoned instructions to recover Norman Rockwell's Sport (1939): Exhibit Art Craft @ExhibitArtCraft, via Twitter March 13, 2014

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

The 2014 recovery of Norman Rockwell's Sport (1939) brought successful closure to a Friday, Sep. 13, 2013, art theft: Rhonda Stratton @Raceycleo, via Twitter March 17, 2014, @ https://twitter.com/Raceycleo/status/445583069785776129

Lost no more: Lazybones, 1919 oil on canvas by Norman Rockwell, is also known as Boy Asleep With a Hoe or as Taking a Break: Public Domain, via FBI Art Theft @ https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices/philadelphia/news/press-releases/fbi-seeks-missing-norman-rockwell-painting-stolen-40-years-ago-today

Private investigator Dean Golemis followed telephoned instructions to recover Norman Rockwell's Sport (1939): Exhibit Art Craft @ExhibitArtCraft, via Twitter March 13, 2014, @ https://twitter.com/ExhibitArtCraft/status/444293068892958720

For further information:

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"Norman Rockwell 1894 - 1978 Sport (Man in Fishing Boat)." Sotheby's > American Art 23 > 22 May 2013.
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