Pribek

We all misplace things. I lost the ignition key to the Winnebago about a month ago and drove me nuts. I wasn’t going anywhere but, just knowing that I couldn’t bug out, if needed, cause me great distress. Until, I found the key on my key chain, in the car which, is where I keep the vehicle keys; Duh!

Wellesley College has lost something pretty important. From the Canadian Press.

Wellesley College has lost a 1921 painting by French cubist Fernand Leger that was likely worth millions of dollars, officials said.

“Woman and Child” had been in the collection of the college’s Davis Museum and Cultural Center since 1954.

Worth millions and they don’t know where it is, go figure.

Let’s take the old school approach. Where was it when you last saw it Wellesley College?

The painting was lent to the Oklahoma City Museum of Art and returned in April 2007. But the painting remained in a crate for months while renovations were being done at the Wellesley museum. The Leger had been packed in a crate with two other paintings, which have been accounted for.

The museum didn’t realize the 53-centimetre-by-63-centimetre painting was gone until last November. It was unclear whether the painting was stolen or might have been mistakenly thrown when packing crates were discarded.

Aha!

It’s either been stolen or….mistakenly thrown? Mistakenly thrown? That means that they may have thrown the thing away. Here’s where it gets interesting.

Police were told and the museum’s insurer, Travellers Insurance, has paid a claim. Last year, Leger’s paintings sold for an average of $2.8 million, and the newspaper quoted an unidentified Travellers official as saying the payout was “in that area.”

Travelers is offering a $100,000 reward for the painting

Wellesley has already been paid off. In the area of $2.8 million. That’s a nice area and, some real good insurance, I’ll tell you that. So, for Wellesley, it’s an embarrassing screw up and probably a higher rate. The insurance company is offering $100,000 reward. Let’s assume, for the sake of nothing in particular, that the painting was not stolen. Let’s assume that the painting was thrown away.

Now, let’s say you were one of these folks that, when they are taking a load of trash to the dump, would go ahead and grab something that somebody else threw away if it looked like it had some worth. And, let’s say you saw this right here.

You might be inclined to throw that in the back of the truck even if you weren’t a fan of French cubists. Let’s say you did and it’s now hanging on the wall in your den when you come across this article about how Wellesley College may have mistakenly thrown it away.

Do you call up the insurance company and claim the 100 Grand? Or, is that painting, worth $2.8 million, yours? Does it belong to the insurance company if somebody threw it away?

I don’t know but, I know that there are some pretty keen legal minds out there. How does this suss out?