Man Finds “Priceless” Napoleon Memorabilia Stolen in Museum Heist — on eBay
For devotees of rummage gross sales, classic retailers, and eBay, the dream is evident: Make a rating worthy of an emotional shock tackle Antiques Roadshow. Final 12 months the chance got here for Australian artwork vendor Leigh Capel, and he didn’t miss his second. Capel was scouring eBay for fascinating portraits to show at his Sydney gallery, Belle Epoque Fantastic Artwork, when he got here throughout an genuine miniature portrait of Josephine Bonaparte — one in every of ten uncommon artifacts stolen in a 2014 museum heist — for the discount worth of $250.
“I don’t often purchase miniatures, but it surely was of such top quality and of the age that it could have been painted throughout Napoleon’s lifetime,” Capel advised ABC Radio Melbourne. Capel’s gambit paid off, and in March he returned the portrait to its residence on the Briars Homestead, a historic home and heritage museum in Mount Martha on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula.
Different objects taken within the theft included locks of Napoleon’s hair, a silver inkwell set with three gold Napoleons (which had been allegedly within the pocket of the exiled emperor when he died), and a portrait of the person himself, which was a match for the recovered portrait of the empress.
The work is finely detailed, hand-painted on porcelain, and signed “René” — believed to be René Théodore Berthon, a French artist common through the First Empire interval, between 1804 and 1815. The gathering of Napoleon artifacts and memorabilia housed within the Briars Homestead was put collectively by Dame Mable Brooks, the great-granddaughter of Alexander Balcombe, who settled in Australia in 1846 and “sat on Napoleon’s knee as slightly boy,” in accordance with a 2014 assertion from museum coordinator Steve York.
“Actually they’re priceless as a result of they will’t get replaced,” York advised ABC Australia on the time of the theft. “We’re fairly distraught. Irreplaceable.”
Now, eight years later, the museum can rejoice the return of 1 these stolen objects, which is able to return on show on the Briars Homestead when it reopens to the general public following renovations later this 12 months. Within the meantime, the portrait of Josephine shall be on view on the Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery.
For Capel’s half, he appears glad to have hit that final achievement for antiques fanatics: discovering a treasure.
“I come throughout artworks which have been misattributed or they’ve misplaced their tales or their labels, and that’s a part of the enjoyable of my job [to track the stories down],” he advised ABC Information. “I really feel slightly bit like Indiana Jones … Now I’ve the chance to carry pleasure again to that group.”