Romanian police seize expensive paintings, ancient coins traded illegally at antiques fair

Romanian police officers recently confiscated 96 paintings, over 70 mine flowers and tens of ancient and medieval coins which were illegally traded at an antiques fair organized in Negreni, Cluj county. One of the paintings was signed by Romanian painter Nicolae Darascu, whose works are among the best-selling items in Romanian art auctions. In recent years, Darascu’s paintings have been selling at prices ranging between EUR 10,000 and EUR 57,000, according to data from local auction house Artmark. The value of the confiscated art works and coins was not estimated. The items were confiscated and handed over to the Ethnographic Museum of Transylvania in Cluj – Napoca and the Gold Museum in Brad. The people who were trading those items were sanctioned with some EUR 1,800 in fines. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com