The doors opened to Art Miami fairgoers on Friday morning, but all they saw at David Smith's booth was an empty stretch of wall, with a label still in place reading, "Signed, numbered & Stamped with silver marks."
The Picasso plate was gone.
A thief or group of thieves made off with a small, silver plate created by Spanish artist Pablo Picasso from the Art Miami fair sometime after the event space closed on Thursday night. Valued around $85,000, the plate, entitled Visage aux Mains, was crafted in 1956. While police have no video surveillance footage to use, Smith remains hopeful the piece will someday be reclaimed.
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"If you steal art, if it's from a famous artist, it's going to be hard to re-sell," he told The Miami Herald. "Either somebody steals it for himself to keep, or somebody, somewhere, someday will realize it's stolen."
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