AN UNEXPECTED TOWER TRASH TREASURE – Imperial Towers Foreman Esparza Contralto, at left, carefully supports the missing Edvard Munch painting with Jorge Wittlinger as tower crew members celebrate their upcoming multi-million-dollar payday next month. Adam Ansels for The New York Times / Gettey Images
All 22 employees of a four-crew wireless contracting firm in Bessemer, Alabama, are about to get a financial windfall so huge that they wake up each morning rereading a letter from Sotheby’s to ensure it’s not a dream.
Each is on the verge of claiming at least $5.45 million, thanks to the auction of an Edvard Munch masterpiece, “The Scream.” Yes, that iconic symbol of existential dread is about to make their bank accounts much less dreadful, with bidding starting at an astonishing $120 million at Sotheby’s this May.
SERIOUS SECURITY IN MANHATTAN – Security was tight at Sotheby’s on the Upper East Side of Manhattan last month during a press briefing and unveiling of the Edvard Munch painting that will be auctioned off with an opening minimum bid of $120 million. Adam Ansels for The New York Times / Gettey Images
Tower technicians Jorge Wittlinger and Esparza Contralto stumbled upon the dirty but undamaged pastel in a hand-stained frame by the artist while renovating a run-down AM transmitter shelter in Jasper, Alabama.
In a brazen theft on or about February 1, 2024, the first ever recorded in America, the shelter and its transmitter had been picked clean by thieves who also disassembled an adjacent 200-foot tower without leaving a trace of evidence.
“Although many industry observers couldn’t understand how a tower and transmitter could be stolen within a day without the station knowing, our guys aren’t judgmental and volunteered to help the small-town broadcaster out,” said Imperial Towers CEO Jim Millton, painting his crew in strokes of community spirit.
“When we arrived there, shortly after the theft, we were taken back after seeing that the place looked more abandoned than my attempts at dieting,” joked Contralto in an interview with Wireless Estimator.
Covered in cobwebs and camouflaged in months-old detritus, “The Scream” nearly ended up in a garbage bag. “Jorge thought it’d be hilarious to give it to our boss to highlight his almost daily meltdown over AT&T’s pricing threats,” Contralto chuckled.
Imperial Towers’ unexpected treasure chest was opened when Millton’s wife, Paula, with a minor in art appreciation from Auburn University, spotted the painting behind an air compressor in one of the company’s warehouse bays.
After a closer inspection, she recalls blaring, “That’s not just any existential crisis; that’s a Munch!”
IN A REMARKABLE INCIDENT, an AM radio station’s 200-foot tower and transmitter were stolen within a mere 24-hour period. The perpetrators managed to completely strip the equipment shelter, removing everything from the exterior electrical meter can to the internal electrical wiring, log files, and additional equipment, leaving behind nothing but a rusty folding chair. This chair inadvertently became the seat of contemplation for the Jasper detective tasked with unraveling this perplexing theft, executed without a trace of footprints on the dust-covered floor. Fortunately for Imperial Towers’ employees, the investigating officer and the culprits overlooked an Edvard Munch painting. Photo credit: Jasper Police Department
And just like that, what was once considered a prank became a financial fairy tale. Sotheby’s confirmed the painting’s authenticity, dubbing it the art world’s version of a new Beatles album dropping since it was another Munch painting that the art scene didn’t know existed after the Norwegian artist painted it around 1896.
As the May 12, 2024 auction date looms, and the painting is expected to fetch upwards of $190 million, Millton plans a viewing party for his team and their families at the Bright Star Restaurant. He promises a suspense-filled 15 minutes and lots of celebratory cocktails.
But here’s the kicker: Millton told Wireless Estimator in strict confidence Friday that he had been on the brink of slashing his 63% IRA match due to carrier CapEx cuts. “Talk about going from zero to hero in the time it took my wife to recognize a Munch,” he mused.
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UPDATE: According to a complaint (4:24-CV-06305) filed Monday in Walker County Circuit Court, station engineer Martin Cajones alleges that the Munch painting was stolen from his mobile home, which sat alongside the WJLX tower for the past six years. In his lawsuit, he petitioned the court to have Sotheby’s cancel the auction and return the artwork.
“That painting hung with pride for years as the centerpiece in my mobile home’s kitchen, but, you know, I guess I was distracted when I was clipping Kroger coupons and doing other things in there like cooking and didn’t notice that someone had stolen it until many weeks later,” he said in the lawsuit filing. Although he recognizes that the radio station’s owner informed Imperial’s crew that they could keep anything that wasn’t “tied down” in the shelter, including the door that had been ripped askew for many months, his complaint includes an exhibit photograph, pictured below, of the inside of his kitchen, which he alleges is proof of where the painting had been hung with a closeup picture of the solitary nail that the thief left behind.
According to a police report obtained by Wireless Estimator, Jasper Detective Edgar Degas, who investigated the station’s alleged thefts, wrote: “During the period between February 1 and February 3, Mr. Cajones said he had never left the mobile home because he was suffering from flu-like symptoms and mostly stayed in his bedroom. He said he could not see anything outside the window since, ‘Even though I’m from Alabama, the window was covered by a painting from a Georgia artist named O’Keefe that made the mobile home look like a double-wide.’ ”
IT’S PROOF POSITIVE, said the AM station’s engineer in presenting his exhibit that the Edvard Munch painting had previously hung on a hook in his trailer’s kitchen.
CORRECTION:
In a correction to earlier reports, the Jasper Police Department has clarified that they did not supply a photograph depicting the interior of the WJLX equipment shelter, a detail initially attributed to them by Wireless Estimator. Upon further examination, the department identified the image in question as a screenshot from a YouTube video. “Although the image was accurate, it did not include a Pabst Blue Ribbon beer can,” a spokesperson said in an email. Wireless Estimator extends its apologies for the erroneous photo credit attribution.
Additional April 1 exclusive and investigative Wireless Estimator articles can be found here:
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