Big haul, 30 RAIDS STOLEN/FAKE ART in Western Germany

German police have dismantled a forgery network after something like 30 raids on apartments, warehouses and galleries around Wiesbaden on Wednesday 12 and Thursday 13 June. A thousand works were seized and two men were arrested. The two are believed to head a gang of forgers thought to have forged close to 400 avant-garde Russian works by the likes of Kandinsky, Jawlensky, Gontcharova, Larionov and Malevitch. The fakes are believed to have been sold for the most part to Spanish and German collectors. The investigation was opened in December 2012 after four people were arrested for trying to sell a “previously unseen” version of Picasso’s Bust of Young Man for £1 million. Other works were seized in Switzerland and Israel at the same time. To be continued.

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