The Renoir work in dispute is titled On the Shore of the Seine and was purchased by Marcia Fuqua in a Shenandoah Valley flea market for just $7. The buyer brought the painting to the Potomack Auction House because the frame had an inscription with the name of the artist. The auction house not only confirmed its authenticity, but reviewed the register of lost works and the FBI's Stolen Artworks Database. These searches proved fruitless, since the in the 1950's the FBI did not focus on stoles art and the database didn't exist. The work was scheduled for auction in September, 2012, for an estimated $75,000 - $100,000, when it was found that one of its owners had been Herbert L. May, whose wife Sadie was a key donor to the Baltimore Museum of Art.
This information rang alarm bells in the museum, which, after an exhaustive investigation, determined that the Renoir had been stolen in 1951 while out on loan. Days before the scheduled auction, the work was retired.
Thus began the dispute between Ms. Fuqua, the flea market buyer, and the Baltimore Museum of Art. The courts finally arrived at the conclusion that, according to American law, a thief cannot transfer a property title for ill-gotten goods, even if it is to an innocent buyer; it follows, then, that Ms. Fuqua had no property claim over the Renoir regardless of her good-faith purchase.
The museum expects to gain possession of the painting soon, if Ms. Fuqua doesn't appeal the decision within 30 days after January 10th, when the decision was announced.