Recap: Lost art is found. Now, whose is it? Yazzy's at www.williamverdult.com

The paintings were stolen in the middle of the night by men wielding pistols and wearing ski masks, and for nearly 32 years, authorities could not find them. The artwork - along with the silverware, furs, and other items swiped from Mae Persky's home in Shrewsbury in July 1976 - had essentially disappeared.

But now Persky's three paintings - renowned works by American Impressionist Childe Hassam, French Realist Gustave Courbet, and 18th century English painter William Hamilton - have reemerged, thanks to an accidental discovery in Bristol, R.I.

With the paintings estimated to be worth millions today, far more than the $45,000 they were valued at in 1976, a federal court case is looming. Three parties - Persky's heirs, the insurance company that paid the claim decades ago, and former Providence College professor Patrick Conley, the paintings' most recent owner - all have a stake in the stolen art.

"It's tragic that the paintings were stolen and stolen in the fashion that they were," said Conley, who said he would ultimately like to see the works of art returned to Persky's heir, Judith Yoffie of Worcester. But still, Conley said, he would like the court to compensate him, too, covering his expenses and maybe throwing in a little reward.

"At the least," he said. "Certainly, the very least."

The paintings in question are Hassam's "In the Sun," Courbet's "The Shore of Lake Geneva," and Hamilton's "Lady as Shepherdess." Art dealers say Hassam's painting, in particular, could go for millions at auction these days. But that was not the case when this tangled tale began in Shrewsbury in summer 1976.

Around 11:45 p.m. on July 1 that year, three men broke into Persky's home, using ropes from the drapes to tie up her caretaker and nurse and wrapping the legs of the 85-year-old Persky with duct tape. Then, according to the police report, the three men spent two hours cleaning out the house, before driving off in the caretaker's 1968 Ford.

Try as they might, local investigators never solved the crime, said the town's current chief of police, James Hester. Commercial Union - Persky's insurance company at the time, which later become OneBeacon Insurance Group - paid a $45,000 claim for the lost paintings. And the artwork never surfaced again until Conley, 69, made a phone call last year, wanting to find out, he said, if the paintings his brother had given him in the late 1990s were the originals they appeared to be.

Conley had his suspicions. He said his brother William, an antiques dealer in Rhode Island who could not be reached for comment, gave him the paintings as collateral for a $22,000 loan in late 1998 and early 1999. When William never came calling again for the art, Conley said, he figured the paintings must be fakes.

William Vareika, a Newport, R.I., art dealer, figured as much, too, when Conley asked him to look at the paintings last March. But then Vareika gave Conley some shocking news: The paintings were bona fide. There was just one problem, Conley explained. They were stolen.

"It's a fascinating story," said Conley, whose paintings have been in FBI custody since last spring. "I'm just glad it's reaching some type of conclusion."

But what conclusion, exactly, remains unclear. Authorities would neither confirm nor deny an ongoing investigation into the 1976 theft. And this month, the US attorney's office in Providence filed a civil action, asking a US District Court judge to determine who owns the paintings: Persky's heir, Yoffie, who did not return calls for this story; OneBeacon Insurance Group, where officials also declined to comment; or Conley himself.

For one party, art dealers say, a financial windfall may be in the offing, particularly given the interest that art aficionados might have in the Hassam painting. Hassam, born in Dorchester in 1859, became a prolific American Impressionist, painting city scenes and rural vistas until his death in 1935.

Erica Hirshler, curator of paintings in the art of the Americas department at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, said most people had not begun to really appreciate American Impressionism until after "In the Sun" was stolen in 1976.

If it were to be sold today, dealers believe, $45,000 would hardly get a prospective buyer in the door.

"The prices have gone up, just as they have on chopped meat and sport jackets and most everything else you can think of," said Stuart Feld, president and owner of Hirschl & Adler Galleries in New York City, where he is currently cataloging Hassam's lifetime of work. "A good picture by an artist like that has become, today, a very expensive proposition."