The thieves used heavy explosives to break into the MPV Gallery in Oisterwijk in North Brabant province and took off with two screenprints showing former queens Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and  Margrethe II of Denmark, Dutch media NOS reported. 

"The entrance of the gallery was blown out and there was glass all around the building," NOS said.

Not much is known yet about the theft "but it is strange that explosives were used," well-known Dutch art detective Arthur Brand said.

"That's not common for art thefts," said Brand, who has made headlines for recovering artworks, including a missing Picasso and a stolen Van Gogh.

The Reigning Queens series by Pop Art pioneer Andy Warhol were on display in the gallery before going on sale at the PAN Amsterdam art fair that runs from Nov. 24 to Dec. 1.

Two other works from the same series, showing former Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and Queen Ntombi Tfwala of Eswatini, formerly Swaziland, were abandoned on the street because the full haul did not fit in the getaway car, NOS said.

"The works are worth a considerable sum," the owner of the gallery Mark Peet Visser told local media Omroep Brabant. 

Brand, however, told AFP the stolen artworks were "not unique and most likely tens of them were made."

"This makes it easier to sell than unique works, but not that much easier," he said.

La MPV Gallery did not instantly respond to a request for comment by AFP. 

The Reigning Queens series was created in 1985, two years before the American artist's death, when all four queens were in power.

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