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Crime

€10k Picasso jug left on German train

Louisa Wright with dpa
February 26, 2019

An elderly man has left an expensive Picasso artwork on a train, where it quickly disappeared. The jug from Picasso's "Owl" series is worth more than €10,000, the owner said.

A missing Pablo Picasso owl jug left on a German train by a commuter
Image: presseportal

German police are trying to help a man find a ceramic jug made by Pablo Picasso, after he accidentally left it on a train earlier this month.

The elderly man was traveling from Kassel to Dusseldorf on February 15 when he switched trains at the city of Hamm and forgot to bring his precious cargo with him.

Read more: How German was Picasso?

The 26-centimeter-tall (10-inch-tall) ceramic piece dates to 1953 and was an original crafted by Picasso at his Madoura workshop in Vallauris in the south of France, police said.

It is part of Picasso's "Owl series" and is estimated to be worth at least €10,000 ($8,800).

Police said the man reported the disappearance immediately after exiting the train but the bag with the jug inside it was already gone.

Read more: Picasso and windows

The shopping bag was made of solid cardboard with blue lettering that read "Neumeister — Alte Kunst — Moderne."

Münster Federal Police, which is investigating the case, asked witnesses who might have seen the man "forgetting" the bag to report the sighting to them.

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