OLD MASTERS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 118, 21 May 1938, Page 10

OLD MASTERS.

CUT FROM FRAMES. ART CONNOISSEURS' THEFT. i BURGLARY AT CASTLE. « (Special.—By Air Mall.) LONDON", April 27. Six art connoisseurs, breaking into Chilham Castle, near Canterbury, calmly and methodically cut five old masters, together worth £100,000, from their frames, carefully packed them and got away without rousing the 20 peoplo asleep in neighbouring rooms. 'Jlio castle is the home of Sir Edmund and Lady Davis. The thieves got into the caetle by breaking a window 011 the ground floor. Sir Edmund told a reporter, "My Rembrandt alone is worth more than £50,000. "The Dutch Government asked me to lend it for an exhibition in Amsterdam in connection with the celebrations at the birth o-f Princess Juliana's baby. It is a great pity that I did not consent.

Expert Gang. "The robbery must have been carried out by an experienced gang of art thieves. We believe about six men were involved, for it takes at least four to remove a single painting from the wall. "Each piece was taken down with the. greatest care and placed on cushions on the floor so that the frames would not make a noise when they were removed. "So exacting were the thieves in cutting the pictures from the frames that they used a small ruler in their work which must have taken some time. "They went through five rooms on the ground, floor and although 20 people were asleep in the castle no one appears to have heard any unusual noises during the night. Even the four dogs in the house did not bark. "A collection of new Rhodesian coins which had been presented to me by the Rhodesian Government was also taken, but a 12-incli idol which was in my study was apparently mistaken by them for brass; in fact, it was of pure gold." Sir Edmund and Lady Davis had just returned to England from abroad. The missing pictures are "Saskia at Her Toilet," by Rembrandt; "Man With Dog," by Vandvk; "Lady Clarges," by Gainsborough; "The Karl of Suffolk," by Gainsborough; and- "Pitt," by Gainsborough. Sir Edmund Davis, who is chairman and director of a number of mining companies, is a well-known art collector. He was ■High Sheriff of Kent in 1930.