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Part 1 At first glance, the small public storage unit located on the outskirts of Orlando, Florida wouldn't seem a likely place to uncover hidden treasure. No one would have ever guessed that behind the simple roll-up door and cheap lock laid a collection of fine canvasses hidden from the public eye for more than twenty years. It was in this unobtrusive setting on a dismal overcast day in July of 2004 that Mack found the treasure that he had been actively searching for years, the collection of nearly two hundred paintings by the renowned Russian artist, Ivan Garikow. In the early 1990's, from time to time, he researched Nazi art thefts. Soon, Mack found himself developing an interest for fine art. It was through his reviewing of Davenport's Art Reference artist index that he first became aware of Ivan Garikow.
The sudden disappearance of Russian artist Garikow appealed to his investigative instincts. Soon, he had managed to piece together some specific information regarding Garikow's early life, but then suddenly, the detective work came to an abrupt halt. No one was exactly sure what had happened to the artist. It seemed the Art world lost sight of Ivan Garikow. Not long after Mack admittedly ran out of information, his perseverance paid off. He noticed that occasionally Garikow paintings would appear for sale over the Internet from private sellers. This puzzled him. "I had found it difficult to believe that an artist as talented as Ivan Garikow would have simply stopped painting, and there was no evidence to suggest that he had died young," Mack continued, "I realized there was a good chance that most of his paintings were unknown to the European art community."
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"The pictures of Garikow's work intrigued me. His work had character and great skill, but when I researched him there wasn't a lot written about the man. It was like he had suddenly vanished," he recalled.
