Pablo PicassoPhotography Yousuf Karsh

Man leaves €10,000 Pablo Picasso sculpture on the train

‘Sobbing former Picasso owner’ (2019)

While most people have their expensive works of art stolen, a 76-year-old man in Germany has left a work of Pablo Picasso on a train between Kassel and Dusseldorf. When switching trains in the city of Hamm on 15 February, the man left his estimated €10,000 (£8,600) 10-inch ceramic Picasso jug behind.

The 27-inch sculpture forms one of 500 limited edition ceramics from Picasso’s Owl Series, made in 1953 at the artist’s French Madoura studio.  In 2016, another piece from the same collection sold for €15,000 at an auction in Cologne, Germany.

According to German news site WD, German Federal Police, who call it an act of “momentous forgetfulness”, are calling for witnesses and are also investigating the case for embezzlement.

Even though forces are attempting to help the man and reports have been filed, the jug remains sadly lost.

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