Man turns over baskets stolen 20 years ago in Nevada, sues to get them back

Monday, Nov. 30, 1998 | 8:58 a.m.

Four baskets made by renowned Washo Indian weaver Dat So La Lee were taken 20 years ago from the Nevada Historical Society in Reno. The society's director estimates the pieces are worth hundreds of thousands of dollars apiece.

Paul Shepard, owner of Primitive Arts Ltd., bought three of the baskets last year. But he turned them over to the FBI after an expert on Washo art recognized them as the ones stolen from the historical society on the University of Nevada-Reno campus.

While FBI agents try to find out where the baskets have been for the last 20 years, Shepard is suing the historical society to be declared the baskets' rightful owner.

"Mr. Shepard is a good-faith purchaser of the baskets," his attorney, Donn Alpert, told The Arizona Daily Star. "He paid good money for the baskets and there's a legal question whether or not the original owner, the Nevada Historical Society, has a superior claim."

Shepard declined to comment.

Mark Ghan, an attorney for the state of Nevada, said the civil case could be resolved in two weeks if the Nevada Board of Examiners - the governor, the attorney general and the secretary of state - approves a $55,000 settlement with Shepard. The art dealer paid about $45,000 for the baskets, Ghan said.

Steve Martinez, an FBI supervisory special agent, said no arrests have been made in the case and no other pieces of art have been recovered. He declined to discuss who sold the baskets to Shepard.

The baskets, each about a foot tall and 15 inches in diameter, were taken from unsecured plastic display cases and somehow smuggled out of the building, police reports say.

The historical society recovered the fourth basket in 1980 after an anonymous person returned it for a $2,500 finder's fee, Ghan said.

The baskets were made by Dat So La Lee, who lived from about 1850 to 1925. She made about 120 such baskets in her lifetime from willow branches, roots and bark. Some of the baskets took almost a year to weave.

Nevada bought 10 Dat So La Lee baskets in 1945 and put them on display, said Peter Bandurraga, director of the Nevada Historical Society. Since there are so few Dat So La Lee baskets on the market, Bandurraga estimated each one would fetch $250,000 to $300,000.

Court documents indicate Shepard bought the last three missing baskets in December 1997, but do not give any hints to the source.

"It's not appropriate for Mr. Shepard to talk about how he came into possession of the baskets," Alpert said. "Once he discovered there was a pending investigation, he voluntarily turned over the baskets to law enforcement."

The FBI took custody of the baskets in January, and had Nevada Historical Society officials store them in their collection storage building.

"Right now they (the baskets) are under lock and key," Bandurraga said.