Pottery Stolen From Museum in San Diego

Ten valuable and artistically acclaimed pieces of Native American pottery have been stolen from a museum on the eve of a major exhibit--the first theft in the museum’s 85-year history.

A thief invaded the Museum of Man in Balboa Park about 2:30 a.m. Monday by breaking a small side window and then took the pottery from display cases, police said.

The break-in was detected by motion sensors installed by a private security firm but, for reasons that have yet to be determined, the firm did not notify police.

The thief walked past items of greater value and equal portability to take a piece by Maria Martinez and nine by relatives of the Hopi potter Nampeyo.

This selectivity has led to speculation among museum officials that the thief was seeking specific works, but police said they have no evidence to confirm that.

“At this point in the investigation, we do not know if [the theft] was committed by a passerby or by an organized ring of thieves,” said police spokesman Bill Robinson.

None of the stolen pieces were by Juan Quezada, the legendary, self-taught artist from northern Mexico credited with sparking a revival of an ancient art form. The Quezada pieces are the centerpiece of the “Magic of Mata Ortiz” exhibit, scheduled to open Saturday.

The stolen pieces, insured for $26,000, were pots and bowls and other ceramic forms in the traditional colors of brown, sandstone and red. All are owned by the museum and etched with the museum’s name.

The Martinez piece dated from 1915, the pieces by Nampeyo’s grandchildren and great-grandchildren from the 1960s to 1980s.

“Any ethical gallery owner or collector will not buy them because they’ll know they’re stolen,” said Grace Johnson, a museum curator.

Even for art that has been marked, however, there is an illicit market of dealers and collectors, said Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. Alexis de la Garza, who prosecuted the former director of the Southwest Museum in Los Angeles for stealing and selling art.

The thief left behind fingerprints, footprints and a bloody handkerchief. There were no signs of ransacking, but two pieces of pottery were chipped, apparently as the thief was opening the cases.

The “Mata Ortiz” show will feature 250 pieces done by Martinez, Nampeyo, Quezada and native potters influenced by them. Quezada, the only one of the three still living, will attend the exhibit.