Painting Missing For 14 Years Returned to Oysterponds Historical Society

A painting that had been missing for 14 years was recently returned to the Oysterponds Historical Society in Orient.

The Bark Washington, an oil painting portraying an ”action scene” of whale hunting with the ship in the background, was reported stolen by the society along with two other paintings and two whale busks in March 2001 when the building was undergoing construction, according to Amy Folk, collections manager of the Oysterponds Historical Society.

The painting was returned on Sept. 29 by an identified man who bought the painting at an antique shop in East Marion in 2001 for a few hundred dollars, according to the FBI.

One day, he decided to look up the painting on the FBI’s Stolen Art Database and discovered it was stolen, according to the FBI.

He then contacted the FBI, generously agreeing to return it to the rightful owner.

The FBI presented the painting to Amy Kasuga Folk, Manager of Collections, and John Holzafel, Interim Director at the Oysterponds Historical Society.

While the exact price of the painting is unknown, the FBI estimated the total value of the four items, including the painting, stolen in 2001 to be $32,000, Newsday reports.

According to Folk, in her 25 years of working in the art world she had never experienced something like this.

“It was a pretty big surprise. It’s been 14 years so it was pretty out of the blue,” Folk said. “Everyone was pretty excited.”

Locals were especially excited given that the painting has local ties, since one of the captains of the Bark Washington, Edwin Peter Brown, lived in Orient.

The artwork is thought to be painted around 1860, but the scene portrayed in the painting probably took place between 1800 and 1850, when whale hunting was more popular.

The painting has some damage, according to Folk. She believes that the painting was in the home of a smoker, since it is very yellow.

The Historical Society has sent it to be cleaned and repaired and plans to hang it afterwards to be displayed at an exhibit, which take place at the society during the summers.

Until then, the society hopes to locate one of the other paintings stolen in 2001, the Jennie French Potter (pictured above), which is a painting of a five-masted ship.

“We’d really like to see it returned,” Folk said.

Anyone with information on the stolen painting or the whale busks, is asked to call the FBI’s Art Crime Team at (212) 384-1000 or submit a tip at https://tips.fbi.gov/.

In addition, the society is asking the community for donations, which can be sent to P.O. Box 70 in Orient.

Photo 1: Bark Washington

Photo 2: Jennie French Potter

Photos courtesy of the Oysterponds Historical Society