QUICK TAKES - June 11, 2009
A red notebook of 33 pencil drawings by Pablo Picasso stolen from the Paris museum bearing his name will be hard for thieves to sell, France’s culture minister said Wednesday.
The theft was discovered Tuesday morning by an employee of the Picasso Museum. The notebook had been kept in a second-floor glass display case that can be opened only with a special instrument.
“It’s difficult to sell a notebook of pencil sketches made in the 1920s,” Culture Minister Christine Albanel said, noting that even the Picasso family said its value was mainly “scientific.”
“It seems bizarre, to say the least,” she said.
Museum head Anne Baldassari would not speculate about the notebook’s value, which a police official said earlier was likely worth $11 million.
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