Ibiza authorities seized a Pablo Picasso sketch worth more than US$460,000 after a traveler failed to declare it to airport customs, according to a joint statement released by the agency. Fiscal of Spain and the Civil Guard.
The unidentified passenger, who arrived on the Spanish island on a flight from Switzerland, initially tried to pass off the drawing as a copy of little monetary value. But a gallery invoice discovered in his luggage seemed to identify the work as an original.
The alleged smuggling attempt took place in early July, although authorities did not release details of the incident until Monday, after a preliminary analysis suggested the signed sketch was a genuine Picasso work.
Spanish officials said their Swiss counterparts had warned about a plane passenger “carrying a work of art under circumstances (which they) considered suspicious”. When the man tried to pass the green runway at Ibiza airport, indicating he had nothing to declare on arrival, customs officials searched his luggage and discovered the sketch.
At first, the passenger claimed that the drawing was just a copy and presented a handwritten receipt for 1,500 Swiss francs ($1,534). But during a “deep” search, officials discovered a second invoice, issued by a Zurich art gallery, which listed the sale of a 1966 Picasso work called “Trois personnages” (“Three figures”) for 450,000 Swiss francs. (about $461,000).
An initial inspection by the director of a local museum, the Eivissa Contemporary Art Museum in Ibiza, found the work to be an original Picasso with a market value “in line” with the value stated on the gallery’s invoice.
Born in Spain in 1881, Picasso is believed to have completed 13,500 paintings and around 100,000 etchings and etchings in his lifetime. He was a prolific draftsman, with his drawings often selling at auction for tens and even hundreds of thousands of dollars. In 2017, his 1940 ink drawing “Le Viol” (“The Rape”) grossed nearly $8.7 million at Sotheby’s in New York.
Art experts will conduct additional analysis of “Trois personnages” as part of an ongoing investigation.
Goods brought into Spain from outside the European Union, including Switzerland, are subject to tax and VAT. As the value of the draft is estimated at more than 150,000 euros ($152,000), the incident is being treated as an attempted smuggling, the Tax Agency said.
Source: CNN Brasil
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