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FBI recovers Rockwell painting taken in 1976

PHILADELPHIA — The FBI has reportedly recovered a 1919 Norman Rockwell painting stolen more than 40 years from a New Jersey home.

The painting, sometimes called “Lazybones” or “Boy Asleep with Hoe,” graced the cover of the Sept. 6, 1919, edition of the Saturday Evening Post. The oil-on-canvas piece was among several items taken during a 1976 break-in in Cherry Hill, a Philadelphia suburb.

Susan Murta said the FBI did a great job. She last saw the painting in her parents’ home in 1976. Her parents are deceased.

A Philladelphia Inquirer article last year said the owner forked over $75 for it after accidentally damaging the painting with a pool cue in 1954. It’s now believed worth more than $1 million.

It’s not clear how the painting was recovered.

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