Stolen Lindauer ‘for sale on dark web’ - price $1m

Police are hunting for a stolen Gottfried Lindauer painting that has apparently come up for sale on the dark web for nearly $1 million.

The painting was one of two valuable Lindauer works stolen in a ramraid from an Auckland gallery eight months ago.

The seller claims the listing is for the original,133year-old portrait of Chief Ngatai-Raure. [dark web] listing but as our investigation is ongoing, we are unable to discuss specific details,’’ he said.

Auckland University senior lecturer Dr Ngarino Ellis, an expert in Ma¯ ori art history and a founding trustee of the Art Crime Research Trust, said she hoped finding the painting was a priority for police.

‘‘We don’t have an art crime squad in the New Zealand police because our art market and our art theft market thankfully isn’t that big, but we like to think that moves will be taken and the police will have the capacity and expertise to go in and find out who this Diabolo is,’’ said Ellis.

‘‘I know the trust rating is ‘high’ [for Diabolo], so obviously they’ve got a track record.’’

She said there were doubts over the listing’s authenticity.

‘‘The screen shots that I was sent showed the painting out of its frame with a post-it note on the front with a date. It’s very rare to have a painting of that quality and type out of its frame because the frame is part of the work.’’

There were no images of the back of the artwork, which made her even more dubious, because often works can be positively identified by signatures or notes on their backs.

She said if the listing was legitimate, potential buyers would likely be extremely wealthy art collectors.

‘‘When we’re talking about the big wigs of the art world, in terms of the black market, they’re often billionaires or multi-millionaires who will have a number of different homes. They will have whole galleries filled with stolen art,’’ she said.

‘‘There is certainly a really strong market and strong interest in Maori and Pacific art, historically, this kind of colonial painting,’’ Ellis said.

In broken English Diabolo said in the listing he was expecting ‘‘rich People and collectors (Maybe Government)’’ to bid for the painting.

Diabolo said he has had the painting for three months and was not the original thief nor did he know the people that stole it in Auckland.

International Art Centre spokesman Ian Stuart said the paintings, which were due to be auctioned on April 4, were each worth between $350,000 and $450,000.