{"id":2003243,"date":"2023-08-17T00:54:02","date_gmt":"2023-08-17T04:54:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/from-heist-to-heritage-the-return-of-the-wounded-indian\/"},"modified":"2023-08-17T01:01:14","modified_gmt":"2023-08-17T05:01:14","slug":"from-heist-to-heritage-the-return-of-the-wounded-indian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/from-heist-to-heritage-the-return-of-the-wounded-indian\/","title":{"rendered":"From Theft to Legacy: The Comeback of the &#8216;Injured Indian&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ffrom-heist-to-heritage-the-return-of-the-wounded-indian%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2003243&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>A Stolen\u2063 Statue Returns: A Tale of History, Mystery, and \u2062Art<\/h2>\n<p>A story that seems more like a sequel to the popular movie &#8220;National Treasure&#8221; has ended with\u200d a stolen historic Boston statue presumed \u2063destroyed more than\u2062 half a century ago instead being returned to the New England city after it was discovered on display some 600 miles away at an \u200bart museum in Virginia.<\/p>\n<p>As it is readied for a\u2062 return to Boston,\u200b the \u2064&#8221;Wounded Indian,&#8221;\u2063 a beautiful statue carved out of white marble harvested from Vermont, brings together fabled\u200c American revolutionist Paul Revere, the FBI, a legendary American car maker, and an\u200c eccentric New York art collector who inspired an art forger, a poverty-stricken artist\u200d who \u2064went\u200c mad and\u200d died at a young age, along with a modern-day law firm\u200c as rare as the artifacts it has helped recover.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It \u2064is\u200c indeed quite a story,&#8221; attorney Greg Werkheiser, a founding partner of the Cultural Heritage Partners, told The Epoch Times.<\/p>\n<h3>Related Stories<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/article\/feds-announce-seizure-of-3-36-billion-in-stolen-bitcoin-4848287\">Feds Announce Seizure of $3.36 Billion in Stolen Bitcoin<\/a> (11\/7\/2022)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/arrests-have-been-made-in-a-human-remains-trade-tied-to-harvard-medical-school-heres-what-to-know-5402150\">Arrests \u200dHave Been Made in a \u2063Human\u200c Remains Trade Tied to Harvard Medical School\u2014Here&#8217;s What to Know<\/a> (7\/16\/2023)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In\u200d addition to paintings looted by the \u200cNazis, \u200cthe Virginia-based\u2063 practice has \u2062helped recover a myriad of artifacts stolen from Native American burial grounds around the country.<\/p>\n<p>When it got involved in the \u2062Boston sculpture case, it had already been discovered at the Chrysler Museum, named\u200d after automaker giant Walter Chrysler. The Norfolk-based Museum of Fine Arts adopted Chrysler&#8217;s namesake after he donated his rare collection to it in 1971.<\/p>\n<p>How it landed there remains a mystery, with records of whoever pulled off \u200bthe \u200bheist conveniently destroyed \u200bin a fire. Mr. Werkheiser speculates\u2064 that it was a moving company or at least a group\u2064 posing as one.<\/p>\n<p>The FBI&#8217;s\u2062 Art Crime Team, a \u2062unit of \u200cthe federal agency \u200dwith its own real-life and unsung adventurous tales, won&#8217;t say.\u2062 It released a statement to The Epoch Times, saying only it was proud to\u200b be \u2063a part of its return to\u2064 Boston.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Works \u2063of art hold a special place in our society, and FBI Boston is proud to have been able to help facilitate the return of this 19th century \u2063statue to its rightful\u200c owner,&#8221; \u2063FBI spokeswoman Kristen Setera said in a released statement to The Epoch Times. &#8220;Beyond this, we\u2019re going to decline further comment.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Among\u200c its most recent and intriguing recoveries includes a five-century-old letter signed by Spanish Conquistador Hernan Cortes. Last month, the FBI returned the \u200cletter, penned in 1527 by the explorer, to Mexico&#8217;s national\u200d archives after it was discovered at a\u2062 Massachusetts auction house.<\/p>\n<p>Aiding in the recovery of \u200bthe Boston\u2064 statue was \u200bPaul \u200bRevere III, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/from-heist-to-heritage-the-return-of-the-wounded-indian\/\" title=\"From Theft to Legacy: The Comeback of the 'Injured Indian'\">great great great great grandson<\/a> of well-known American patriot Paul Revere.<\/p>\n<p>It\u200d was the famous patriot, who has his own impressive statue in Boston, that founded the\u200d Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association (MCMA), where the Indian statue originally\u200b roosted.<\/p>\n<p>Today, the\u200b contemporary Revere, \u2064who is\u200b also a practicing attorney, serves as a trustee of the organization.<\/p>\n<p>He told The Epoch Times that \u200c&#8221;it&#8217;s been a bit of battle&#8221; to get the\u2062 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/university-of-hong-kong-removes-statue-dedicated-to-victims-of-tiananmen-square-massacre\/\" title=\"University Of Hong Kong Removes Statue Dedicated To Victims Of Tiananmen Square Massacre\">statue back<\/a> after learning it\u2062 still existed.<\/p>\n<p>The falsely-presumed destroyed\u2062 statue was among hundreds of rarities housed \u200bin the MCMA&#8217;s sprawling Mechanic Hall, \u2062located in an area of Boston now occupied \u200bby the city&#8217;s famous Prudential Tower and about a two-mile walk\u200c from the\u2063 fabled bronze of Paul \u2062Revere on his legendary 1775 Midnight Ride.<\/p>\n<p>Its\u200b collection was so rare that it often \u200bloaned pieces to the \u200cSmithsonian Institution.<\/p>\n<p>In 1958, after\u200c the building fell into disrepair, the financially-strained \u200cMCMA decided to sell off \u200dthe building and sell and\/or donate everything\u2064 in it.<\/p>\n<p>During the move, \u200bthe group&#8217;s building manager, according to \u200dMr. Revere, was told by movers that the six-foot-long &#8220;Wounded Indian&#8221; statue was destroyed and that they \u2063had already thrown \u200caway its remains.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We obviously now know that was in fact not the case,&#8221; said\u200c Mr. Revere, &#8220;someone somehow made\u2064 up off with a whole\u200d statue.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, records\u200c about the movers were lost when the building where they were being stored \u2062was destroyed \u200din a fire.<\/p>\n<p>It was a researcher working on an unrelated \u2063project that unwittingly discovered the statue at Chrysler Museum in pristine condition 41 years later in 1991.<\/p>\n<p>She had only just been at\u200b the Virginia museum a \u2062few days earlier when she happened\u2063 on pictures in a file\u200c at the MCMA on the &#8220;Wounded Indian&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>The\u2062 Chrysler Museum did\u2062 not respond to \u200binquiries \u200dfrom The Epoch Times.<\/p>\n<p>According to records provided to The Epoch Times, the museum has known since 1991\u2063 that\u200d it\u200c had\u2063 the MCMA statue.<\/p>\n<p>Museum curator Nichols Clark,\u200c who left Chrysler \u2064in 2014, even \u200cmade \u2064an internal file on\u2064 it.<\/p>\n<p>According to those \u200crecords, &#8220;Wounded Indian&#8221; was among several pieces purchased\u200b from\u200b a New York art \u2063collector named James &#8220;Jimmy&#8221; Ricau in \u200d1967.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Ricau \u2064died in 1993, just a\u2063 few years after the &#8220;Wounded Indian&#8221; was\u2063 discovered at the Chrysler Museum.<\/p>\n<h2>Plot Thickens<\/h2>\n<p>Mr. Ricau&#8217;s Hudson River home in Piedmont is described in publications as\u200b once cluttered with\u2064 noteworthy art from around the world.<\/p>\n<p>Ken Perenyi, dubbed the \u2064&#8221;most prolific art forger in history,&#8221; \u2063named Mr. Ricau as a\u2062 mentor who \u2063&#8221;wanted to make\u200d him \u2063the \u200bbest American \u2064Old Masters forger\u200d in the world.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Perenyi admitted \u200dhe dodged convictions because the\u200b statute of limitations to charge him ran out.<\/p>\n<p>The \u206377-year-old, who now sells original\u2062 productions or what he calls &#8220;high-end fakes&#8221; to some\u2062 very\u200d elite clients around the globe, told The Epoch Times \u2063that \u200dif he &#8220;had to lay odds, \u200bhe doesn&#8217;t believe Mr. Ricau was involved in the\u200b theft of the Boston statue.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Jimmy \u2062was a\u2063 scoundrel,&#8221; \u2064he said, \u2064&#8221;but he didn&#8217;t need to steal artwork.&#8221; \u200cAccording to Mr. Perenyi, Mr. Ricau was a bomber pilot in World War II and was part of recovery efforts for lost and \u2062stolen artwork in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-legacy-of-vatican-ii-is-not-what-george-weigel-thinks-it-is\/\" title=\"The Legacy Of Vatican II Is Not What George Weigel Thinks It Is\">post-war years<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Later as a civilian, he said Mr. Ricau often talked about \u200cfinding rare treasures\u2064 at roadside sales or in old buildings being torn down.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Ricau once told him about an original James Bard steamship\u2064 painting he bought at a junk shop for $2 while traveling through Mobile,\u2063 Alabama.\u200b Bard paintings have sold for $200,000 \u2064at antique auctions.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Perenyi theorized that someone else stole the &#8220;Wounded Indian&#8221; and sold it \u2064to an unsuspecting Mr. Ricau.<\/p>\n<p>In his book &#8220;A Marble Quarry: The James H. Ricau\u2063 Collection of American Sculpture at the Chrysler Museum of Art,&#8221; \u2064Mr. Clark described\u200c Mr. Ricau as being motivated by the &#8220;excitement of\u2062 the chase&#8221; with &#8220;little concern for documentation.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Clark also \u2063noted\u200d that the museum failed to ask Mr. Ricau for provenance documents of the &#8220;Wounded Indian&#8221;. \u2062Provenance documents authenticate art, its origin, and sale history.<\/p>\n<p>According to information obtained by Mr. Werkheiser, Mr. Ricau told the Chrysler Museum he acquired it from an antique dealer in New York, but an investigation involving the FBI Arts Crime unit concluded\u2063 that it\u2063 was a lie and that the dealer&#8217;s denial he ever had any dealings with Mr. Ricau was proven to be true.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Clark, who\u2062 now works as the founding\u200d director\u2064 of the Ashley Bryan Center in Islesford, Maine, and was a\u200d staff lecturer for the National Gallery of Art in Washington,\u200c told The Epoch Times &#8220;that he did his due diligence&#8221; at the time and had \u200b&#8221;no way of knowing who the \u2062statue originally belonged\u2063 to.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He said he had &#8220;no more to add to the story&#8221; and noted that he did his &#8220;research more than 30 \u2062years ago.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>When the &#8220;Wounded\u2062 Indian&#8221; was discovered at \u200dthe Chrysler Museum, it \u200bfirst denied \u2064having it and then claimed that MCMA&#8217;s must have been a copy. Mr. \u200bRevere quoted his father&#8217;s\u200b words in response to the c<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>seems straight out of &#8220;National Treasure,&#8221; a stolen Boston statue, believed destroyed 50 years ago, has resurfaced at a Virginia art museum. The historic artifact has now been returned to its rightful place in New England, leaving everyone amazed by this unexpected twist.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":283,"featured_media":2003244,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[543],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2003243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-epoch-times"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2003243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/283"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2003243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2003243\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2003244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2003243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2003243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2003243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}