A Henry Moore sculpture stolen in New York in 2001 has been recovered in Toronto.

Miriam Shiell Fine Art, a gallery in the tony Yorkville area, specializing in contemporary art, said a man brought the sculpture in last week.

Shiell said she searched the Art Loss Register and the Henry Moore Foundation and discovered the bronze had been stolen.

"A young man brought it to me and left it with me for assessment and possible sale," Shiell said in an email to CBC News.

Shiell said she immediately checks the Art Loss Register whenever she has a work whose provenance she does not know.

"The Art Loss [Register] is becoming the most valuable tool for any dealer of repute who is offered works of art and even when checking for information such as whether or not there are war claims against an artwork," she said.

It isn't yet known where the abstract sculpture has been since 2001, she said.

"The young man co-operated fully with the registry and signed over his rights to the work, and it is being returned to its owner."

The sculpture, of a reclining figure, has been valued at $80,000.

On Tuesday, a Montreal gallery owner alerted authorities after discovering a Paul Klee painting he was assessing had been snatched two decades ago.

The executive director of the London-based Art Loss Register says there does not appear to be a connection between the two thefts.