Estate is owner of stolen paintings

By Scott J. Croteau TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
scroteau@...


WORCESTER-- A federal judge in Rhode Island has ruled the Yoffie
estate is the rightful owner of three paintings stolen from a
Shrewsbury home more than 30 years ago, recovered last year and the
focus of a court battle until last week.

The Rhode Island U.S. District Court judge ordered in a consent
judgment Friday that the estate of Judith S. Yoffie is the rightful
owner of the paintings -- "The Shore of Lake Geneva" by French
painter Gustave Courbet, "Lady as Shepherdess" by William Hamilton
and "In the Sun" by American impressionist Childe Hassam.

Ms. Yoffie died March 4 as the legal battle over custody continued
and was never able to see the paintings left to her by her aunt, Mae
K. Persky.


"We are just absolutely ecstatic that the paintings have been
returned," Ms. Yoffie's oldest son, Alan Yoffie of Worcester, said
yesterday. "Our one regret is that my mother never saw the paintings
in person."

Mr. Yoffie, 63, said his mother did see pictures of the paintings in
June 2007 and he recalled her reaction.

"My God these are beautiful paintings," she told him at the time.

Ms. Yoffie's three sons, Alan, David and Eric Yoffie became co-
executors of their mother's estate after she died. The paintings have
been in the possession of the Worcester Art Museum since Friday when
Alan Yoffie and members of the museum took possession of them from
the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Rhode Island.

The paintings were driven to Worcester on Friday and remain at the
museum, where a showing is being planned.

"There was so much publicity in the news we thought it would be great
for the people who read about this to see the paintings," Mr. Yoffie
said. They are on loan to the museum.

The future of the oil paintings -- which could fetch more than $1
million for all three -- is unclear at this time. They date to the
late and early 1800s and won't be gracing the walls of Mr. Yoffie's
Worcester home.

"The paintings received so much publicity a house would never be
secure enough for them," he said.

The Yoffie estate, Gail and Patrick Conley of Bristol, R.I., and
OneBeacon Insurance Company were all claiming ownership of the
paintings. According to the paperwork filed in federal court, "all
separate agreements between any defendants or cross-claimants
relating to the paintings shall remain in full force and effect and
shall not be deemed altered or diminished of this consent judgment."

Mr. Yoffie declined to comment on any agreement made with the other
two parties. Patrick Conley, a prominent Rhode Island lawyer and
developer, was not available at his law office yesterday and through
a secretary said a statement would be released later in the week
because the issue had not been resolved in court yet.

The paintings were stolen by three armed, masked men the night of
July 1 into early July 2, 1976, from the home of Mae Persky, 520
Grafton St. The three men cut the telephone wires to the home, bound
Ms. Persky, her nurse companion and caretaker and ransacked the home.
They stole the paintings, furs and other valuables.

The roughly two-hour robbery ended with one of the robbers
stating, "Give us an hour to get away or we'll come back and burn
the .... place to the ground," according to the police report. The
paintings had been purchased in 1945 by Mrs. Persky's husband,
Abraham Persky.

The insurance company for the Persky estate paid $45,000 on the
policy for the three paintings. OneBeacon Insurance Co. is
the "successor-in-interest" to the insurance company at the time of
the robbery, Commercial Union Assurance.

Mrs. Persky, whose husband was the former president of the Worcester
Knitting Co., left the paintings to Ms. Yoffie and her husband,
William Yoffie, in her will. he died Aug. 21, 1979. She was 86 at the
time of the robbery, according to news reports.

Mr. Yoffie was president of Worcester Knitting Co. and a trustee of
the Abraham S. Persky Charitable Trust. He left the interest in the
paintings to his wife when he died April 2007.

For years, the paintings remained missing. They resurfaced last year
when Patrick Conley went to have them authenticated by a Newport,
R.I., art dealer. Mr. Conley had received the three paintings from
his brother William Conley as collateral for $22,000 in loans in 1998
and 1999.

Because William Conley never repaid his brother, Patrick Conley kept
the paintings as part of their written loan agreement. It is unclear
how antiques dealer William Conley obtained the paintings.

When the paintings were determined to be stolen, the FBI took custody
of them and the legal battle began. In previous interviews, Patrick
Conley said he had no idea the paintings were stolen.

During the court case, Mr. Yoffie sought advice from Warner S.
Fletcher and Douglas Q. Meystre, lawyers from the city law firm
Fletcher Tilton & Whipple P.C.

Mr. Fletcher is the nephew of Helen Stoddard, whose Camille Pissarro
painting "Bassins Duquesne et Berrigny a Dieppe, Temps Gris" (Harbor
at Dieppe), was stolen from her Worcester home in July 1978, along
with nine other paintings.

The painting turned up in 1998 at a Cleveland auction gallery after
being missing for two decades. Mrs. Stoddard died at age 94, a few
weeks after learning the painting had been discovered. The Worcester
Art Museum has possession of that painting.

"They were helpful in talking me through it with their experience,"
Mr. Yoffie said.

Calling the three paintings recovered last year "absolutely gorgeous"
and noting the fame of painter Childe Hassam, Mr. Yoffie said it was
amazing all three were found.

"Quite frankly, you hope they are going to be recovered and having
all three recovered at the same time was more than we ever hoped
for," he said.