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Man Attempts to Sell Dealer Her Own Stolen Native American Art
by
Sarah Cascone
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When an Oklahoma man spotted some Native American art at a local pawn shop, he knew he was getting a great deal. However, when he tried to turn a profit by selling the valuable pieces to the Tulsa Indian Art Market at market price, gallery owner Linda Greever blanched. The artwork was hers, and she didn’t even known it had been stolen.
Greever has collected Native American art for 40 years. When she realized the 22 pieces, cumulatively worth thousands of dollars, that a local man was trying to sell her came from her own collection, she was shocked. Having recently undergone open-heart surgery, she had been out of work and was unaware that she had been robbed.
“Makes me feel real stupid for one thing, but also hurt,” she told Oklahoma’s Own.
The seller was also ignorant of his new-found collection’s illicit provenance. The art has been confiscated by the Tulsa Police Department, who are going through pawn shop records to attempt to track down the thief.
A judge will decide if the artworks belong to Greever or the man who bought them from the pawn shop, but Greever is confident he will rule in her favor: “I want to get the things back that belong to me. You know that’s going to take some work and time, but, I should be able to do it.”
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