At around 03:30 on April 1, 2017 a van smashed into the window of the International Art Centre in New Zealand. The crash was no accident. Those inside the vehicle entered the gallery and stole two rare paintings by artist Gottfried Lindauer.

One of the stolen pieces, which was completed in 1884, has now appeared for sale on the dark web. The seller claims the listing is for the original, 133-year-old Chief Ngatai-Raure painting. Questions have been raised about the listing's authenticity, but one thing is clear: the auctioning of one-of-a-kind artworks is pretty new territory for dark web criminals.


"Here you can bid on an [sic] TOP SECRET original Painting from Bohemian painter Gottfried Lindauer that was stolen in New Zealand, Auckland 2017," reads the listing from seller, who goes by the handle Diabolo. The advert appears on the White Shadow market.

The painting has been on the site for at least three weeks and is running as a bitcoin auction, as well as having a fixed 'buy now' price. At the time of writing, there have been two bids on the artwork. The leading bid is 35.1129 bitcoin, which equals around £216,000. The instant purchase price is just over £500,000.

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"This Listing is not for 99% from the Darknet Users because they dont have this Money," Diabolo said in messages sent through the website's internal chat system. "We think its only for rich People and collectors (Maybe Government ;) )".

The anonymous seller claims the painting would be shipped within four days in a wooden box and that it is "100% genuine". Diabolo also claims the painting has been held for three months and that they didn't steal it or know the people that did. The seller wouldn't answer whether the work was still in New Zealand and said the motivation for selling the item was financial. "We want the Money and dont like it."


The listing for the Chief Ngatai-Raure on the dark website White Shadow

The Chief Ngatai-Raure painting was one of a pair that were stolen in the raid in April. The other painting was titled Chieftainess Ngatai–Raure. It is believed the artworks showed two members of the Ngatai family of Tauranga, who are related to the Ngai Te Rangi tribe.

Lindauer, a Czech who died in 1926, is considered as one of New Zealand's leading artists. His unique painting style means the two stolen artworks will be hard to sell on or display anywhere.

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As with almost any dark web sale, there are also questions about the authenticity of the item listed on White Shadow. The sellers sent WIRED one picture of the item, with a post-it note listing the date on. It was impossible to determine its authenticity from this and a further request for verification was denied. Several people, including representatives from the gallery it was stolen from, say it may be a hoax or a replica painting.


"The frame appears to differ from the frame within which the works were originally offered/illustrated – in New Zealand the carved black frames are usually referred to as Goldie frames," Hamish Coney, the managing director of the Art and Object gallery in New Zealand says. "The frame in the image [listed with the auction] is either photoshopped or added later."

Coney says that if the item being sold is genuine then he will have a "sense of relief" that it wasn't damaged during the theft. "The margins to the canvas look a bit too clean and intact for a work of this vintage," he says, adding that the price on the listing is above what the painting would have been sold for legitimately.

How the Chief Ngatai-Raure painting appears on the auction listing

The two paintings were due to be sold in an auction at the International Art Centre in April, with reports from the time of the theft stating they were worth between $NZ350,000-$450,000 (£180,000-£232,000) each.


"These are no ordinary paintings, but are regarded by Māori as the ancestors who are in the paintings, as living ancestors," says the University of Auckland's Ngarino Ellis, who studies Māori art history and has previously commented on the theft. "Works by C F Goldie and G Lindauer are stolen because their high value is well-known in New Zealand through media coverage of auctions."

The painting was first spotted for sale on the dark web by ReSolve Cyber CEO Jim Wheeler. "During an (unlinked) asset tracking investigation that led us onto the dark web, we came across a marketplace that had few items that we hadn't seen before," he says. "We have seen hackers-for-hire, drugs and guns for sale on line, but fine art seemed like a new market."

Police in New Zealand, who are investigating the thefts, would not comment on specific details of their investigation and did not reference the dark web sale in a response to WIRED. "Police are continuing to investigate the theft of two valuable Gottfried Lindauer paintings from the International Art Centre in Parnell in April this year," detective inspector Scott Beard said in a canned statement. In the days after the theft, police in the country found the van used to smash the art gallery's window.



Whether the Chief Ngatai-Raure painting being sold by Diabolo is genuine or not may never come to light. If it isn't, then the original painting is still being hoarded somewhere. If the artwork is genuine it raises questions about where the other stolen painting could be and if it will be sold. When asked if they knew the whereabouts of Chieftainess Ngatai–Raure, Diabolo replied, "Maybe, maybe not."