DOOMED SWISSAIR FLIGHT CARRIED PICASSO PAINTING.Byline: The New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times The cargo hold of the Swissair Swissair (Swiss Air Transport Company Limited) was the former national airline of Switzerland. It was formed of a merger between Balair and Ad Astra Aero (To the Stars), in 1931. jet that crashed off the coast Sept. 2 held millions of dollars in currency, diamonds, jewelry jewelry, personal adornments worn for ornament or utility, to show rank or wealth, or to follow superstitious custom or fashion. The most universal forms of jewelry are the necklace, bracelet, ring, pin, and earring. and a painting by Pablo Picasso that is believed to have been destroyed when the jet slammed into the water, Swissair officials said Monday. ``Usually those kind of paintings are sent in some kind of wooden construction that is really not a shockproof shock·proof adj. Constructed or designed to withstand blows or jarring. shockproof Adjective capable of absorbing shock without damage shockproof adj container,'' said Urs Peter Naef, a spokesman for Swissair's cargo-handling unit in Zurich, Switzerland. The painting was identified as ``Le Peintre'' - in English, ``The Painter'' - and was shipped as general cargo Cargo that is susceptible for loading in general, nonspecialized stowage areas or standard shipping containers; e.g., boxes, barrels, bales, crates, packages, bundles, and pallets. , not as valuable cargo Cargo which may be of value during a later stage of the war. requiring extra care, Naef said. Swissair officials said the shipping company, which it refused to identify, estimated the painting to be worth $1.5 million. It was not immediately known whether this was the Picasso painting called ``Le Peintre'' that was sold at auction at Sotheby's London in December 1996 for the equivalent of $867,000. Matthew Weigman, a spokesman for Sotheby's New York, said Picasso did at least six paintings with that title in 1963. ``Without seeing a photograph, there is no way of telling if the painting sold by Sotheby's was the one that was on the plane that crashed,'' Weigman said. The crash cost the lives of all 229 passengers and crew. Although electrical problems are suspected, investigators have not reached any conclusions about the cause of the crash. |
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