It’s not clear whether the seller of this stolen Maori portrait is greedy or ignorant but the work caught the attention of the folks at Wired UK when they heard it was being offered on the dark web despite being well-known as a stolen work. As Wired points out, the asking price is above what the legitimate work would sell for. And there’s no good way for the buyer, should he or she want to take the risk on owning a stolen work could be assured of its authenticity before sending the seller the asking price in Bitcoin:

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.”

A rare painting is stolen… then it appears for sale on the dark web (WIRED UK)