A historic statue of a lioness was stolen from a Saratoga property
Provided by Steve PhippsAn unusual theft has South Bay authorities, a private detective and the owner of a historic Saratoga property puzzled: Who stole the statue of a lioness from its pedestal on a hillside estate once owned by a renowned portrait artist?
The statue was stolen from the 1-acre property in Saratoga near downtown and Villa Montalvo in early October, according to Steve Phipps, whose father owns and lives on the land. It was once part of a 70-acre estate occupied by portrait artist Josef de Sigall.
“It was sort of a Hearst Castle North,” Phipps said, describing the stone columns along the driveway, rock walls and statues found around the property.
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The most distinctive may have been the lioness statue, carved out of limestone and standing 2 feet tall, 16 inches long and 8 inches wide.
Until its theft, Phipps said, it sat atop a concrete pedestal in a garden choked by creeping vinca plants that covered the remnants of the estate, which burned to the ground in 1935.
Phipps reported the theft to the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office, which started an investigation and spoke to neighbors. Phipps said investigators had no suspects as 2023 drew to a close. The Sheriff’s Office was unable to provide details on the case.
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But Phipps didn’t stop after filing the police report. After speaking with his insurance company, he decided to offer a $2,500 reward for the recovery of the statue. And he hired a private investigator, Rick Smith, a former FBI agent.
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Smith’s investigation includes a continuing review of 56 hours of video footage from surveillance cameras on the site. Unfortunately, Phipps said, there was no camera in the garden area where the statue was displayed — but there are three there now.
Smith said he has also conducted a “neighbor investigation,” speaking to nearby residents who might have seen or heard something. He also has spoken with an art dealer in New York and has been in touch with the sheriff’s office to make sure his investigation doesn’t interfere with theirs.
The art dealer didn’t seem to think the statue, which was probably created by an unknown sculptor in the 1920s, had much value in the art world. He speculated that it may have been stolen as a prank, but both Smith and Phipps say that seems unlikely, since the heavy statue was cleanly cut away from the pedestal using special equipment.
“It would have taken quite a bit of effort to get it off of that pedestal,” Smith said.
He suspects that multiple people were involved in the theft.
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“It’s pretty clear that it would take more than one person to take that off the property,” he said. “There would have to be a co-conspirator.”
While Smith has no suspects, he said, he has identified some “persons of interest” but he declined to identify or describe them or provide further details.
“We’re still working the case,” he said.
The insurance company is still trying to determine the value of the statue. He said he considers it priceless because of its history.
“I don’t think it would have a huge value to anyone else,” he said. “It’s just a lion statue but for preserving the history of the estate, it’s very valuable.”
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Josef de Sigall, according to various accounts, was an internationally known portrait artist — and a bit of an eccentric.
Willys Peck, a columnist for the Saratoga News, wrote in 1992 that de Sigall apparently owned a lioness, named Cziquita (pronounced “Chiquita”), that he would walk on a leash through downtown Saratoga. Some people figure the stolen statue was a tribute to Cziquita, or perhaps a reflection of his affinity for lions.
De Sigall was born in Brodi, Poland, in 1892 and attended the Imperial and Royal Art Academy in Vienna and Royal Art Academy in Munich. He painted portraits of several European heads of state, including Kaiser Wilhelm II in the 1910s.
In the 1920s, de Sigall moved to the U.S., settling in Saratoga on the 70-acre estate.
Peck wrote that de Sigall built “an elaborate house” that was “a repository of art” on the property.
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He painted portraits of presidents Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. De Sigall was known for his “portraiture of the eyes,” according to a Los Angeles Times article.
After the 1935 fire, Peck wrote, de Sigall lived in a cottage on the property. It’s not clear when he left Saratoga, but he died in 1953 in San Diego. The hillside property was subdivided in the 1950s, Phipps said, and his parents bought their house on what he believes to be the site of the estate’s main house in the early 1970s.
Phipps still hopes to get the statue back.
“The statue survived earthquakes, the fire that destroyed the estate, all the trees that grew and fell around it, and its contact with the hundreds of people who saw it and admired it,” he said. “The theft of the statue is just crushing to us.”
Reach Michael Cabanatuan: mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com; Twitter: @ctuan
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2023-12-26 12:03:12Z
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