Art Hostage

Stolen Art Watch, Art Crime, Out Of Africa

2012-01-30T19:53:00.003Z

This oil painting, Zulu Maiden, was stolen from the JAG.

Thugs eye expensive art works

http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/thugs-eye-expensive-art-works-1.1223528

All the thief needed was a couple of minutes alone, enough time to take the painting off the wall and slip it into his oversized art folder.

He represents a new kind of South African thief, one with a knowledge of art and a willingness to take the risk of tapping this new criminal resource.

The thief had gained entry to the Sandton art dealer’s house by saying he wanted to show some artworks. As the dealer was out of the room making tea, he took the opportunity to remove the George Washington Brownlow painting off the wall.

The man might have got away with it, had it not been for the private investigator tasked with recovering the painting.

Kyle Condon, of D & K Management Consultants, set up a sting. He tracked the man to Mpumalanga and, pretending to be interested in buying the Brownlow, organised a meeting.

“He did make claims that he had certain other art available,” said the PI.

He had also tried unsuccessfully to sell the artwork in a gallery.

Condon got his man, recovered the painting and returned it to the owner, who didn’t wish to press charges.

It is a rare success story at a time when art theft is on the increase.

Over the past couple of months, Condon has been approached by several clients, most of them gallery owners who wanted him to recover stolen artworks.

Art theft expert Bernadine Benson of the police practice department at Unisa agrees.

“Not specifically art theft but the incidents of thefts from museums and art galleries escalated between 2010 to 2011.”

Last month, an oil painting titled Zulu Maiden, by Trevor Makhoba, was stolen from the Johannesburg Art Gallery (JAG).

Three months earlier two bronze statues, Mourning Woman by Sydney Kumalo and Peter Pan by Romana Romanelli, were also stolen from the gallery.

Those doing the stealing, Benson said, fell into three main categories. “The first-level thief is the person who steals because he was there and thought something could net him a couple of bucks – usually your druggies fall into this category.”

The level-two criminal is more sophisticated. “He breaks in looking for, let’s say, electronic equipment, then stumbles across an artwork, something he has heard of, and decides to steal.

“But there is often a problem. More often than not they steal something too valuable or well known to be able to sell; sadly, these items are usually destroyed to get rid of evidence and hide the crime.”

Benson, who used to work on the SAPS’s Endangered Species Desk, which is responsible for investigating art crime, has had success only with catching level-one and two thieves.

Then you get level three, the criminal masterminds.

“You have the thief who knows his Pierneefs from his Sekotos and this is the dangerous fellow,” Benson said. “He does not get caught because either the item was ‘ordered’ or he already has a network into which he can feed the item.”

An important aspect of fighting this type of crime, Benson said, was creating awareness and getting networks to spread the news quickly when a theft occurred. - The Star

Stolen Art Watch, Murder, Manhatten & Minority Report, As Turner's Exposed In Contemporary Margate

2012-01-28T15:05:00.010Z

Guards suspected in Goa's biggest robbery

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/Guards-suspected-in-Goas-biggest-robbery/articleshow/11657716.cms

PANAJI: In what could be Goa's biggest robbery, items stolen from the Museum of Christian Art on Wednesday evening are valued at crores of rupees by virtue of being antiques of a unique nature. Museum security guard Luis Bogato, 55, was killed during the robbery.

Old Goa Police suspect the involvement of other security guards and have arrested Ravi Kumar, 20, from Bihar and Tikka Bahadur, 29, from Nepal, on suspicion.

"They have denied involvement. We are corroborating their claims with evidence gathered from the scene of offence. We are also looking into other aspects of the case. It is clear that the robbers' intention was to steal gold and they didn't know the value of antique items as ivory artefacts in the museum are untouched," police said.

Train tickets from Panvel to Margao found in the bushes near the museum, have raised suspicion that security guards may have executed the plan with the help of an outside hand.

"A jacket found near the bushes had railway tickets, indicating that two persons travelled from Panvel to Margao on January 24, and two bus tickets from Margao to Panaji and Panaji to Old Goa. We also found three live rounds in the jacket. We are investigating whether the plan was hatched in Goa by the security guards and executed with the help of robbers from Mumbai," police said.

"It is suspected that the security guard was attacked in front of the gate and then dragged into the compound. There was a pool of blood at the entrance when we arrived," police said.

Sources said Ravi was arrested after police found a blood-stained pant, suspected to be his, in the bushes. Two more live rounds were found in the pant pocket. "The staff at the museum said the pant belongs to Ravi, who used to regularly wear it to the museum, when he was working there. The pant size is that of Ravi's," police said. Ravi was transferred from museum security duty after the museum committee, unhappy with his behaviour, requested the security agency to replace him, sources said.

What has raised further suspicion is that Ravi has fresh minor injuries on his right hand finger and temple. "We have referred him to Goa Medical College and Hospital for medical examination to check the wound of the age. Also we are trying to verify if the blood stains on the pant are Bogato's," police said.

Interestingly, there are two men on security duty at any given time in the museum. On Wednesday evening, Bogato was alone when the robbers broke in. "Tikka was put on duty but reached the museum at about 7pm, when the police team was already at the spot. When the police asked him to open the main entrance to the museum, he said the keys were with Bogato. He also denied having his mobile number," police said.

The police team had to climb a tree and jump into the compound, where they found the body. "With a cutter we cut open the lock of the museum gate. Later, on checking Tikka's mobile, we found that he had Bogato's number," added police.

Manhattan-Based Art Dealer Charged in Manhattan Federal Court with $4 Million Fraud

Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Janice K. Fedarcyk, the Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) announced charges today against ROBERT SCOTT COOK, a Manhattan-based art dealer, for defrauding one of his clients out of more than $4 million worth of art including works by Pablo Picasso, Edouard Manet, Henri Matisse, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said: “Robert Cook portrayed himself as a responsible art dealer, but the allegations here paint a very different picture. As alleged, instead of acting as an agent on his client’s behalf as promised, Cook sold the works of art behind his client’s back. Cook’s charade has now come to an end.”

FBI Assistant Director in Charge Janice K. Fedarcyk said: “Selling millions of dollars worth of someone else’s art collection and keeping the proceeds is effectively the same as stealing millions of dollars of the collector’s money. Both are forms of theft, plain and simple. The allegation of the complaint is that Mr. Cook is a crook.”

The following allegations are based on the complaint, which was filed today in Manhattan federal court:

COOK was the principal of Cook Fine Art, LLC, a gallery located on Madison Avenue in New York, New York. From 2005 to 2011, COOK engaged in a scheme to defraud one of his clients (the “Collector”) by selling 16 works of art owned by the Collector without his knowledge. The artwork, which was worth over $4 million, included watercolors, drawings, photographs, and other artwork by artists including Picasso, Manet, Matisse, Renoir, Wassily Kandinsky, and Paul Klee. COOK sold this artwork to various galleries and auction houses for $4,293,270. He failed to give the proceeds of those sales to the Collector, and lied to the Collector about the status of the art. COOK kept nearly all of the proceeds, except for approximately $100,000 that was paid to galleries as commissions.

COOK also told the Collector that he would submit a number of the Collector’s works for sale at a June 2011 auction, but never did so. In fact, COOK had already sold at least six of the works years before and kept the proceeds—which totaled nearly $2.4 million—for himself. Although COOK told the Collector that the auction had been a success and that the Collector’s works had sold for more than $5 million, COOK never paid the Collector a single dollar.

COOK, 62, of New York, New York, faces a maximum term of 20 years in prison, a maximum term of five years of supervised release, and a fine of the greatest of $250,000, or twice the gross pecuniary gain derived from the offense or twice the gross pecuniary loss to the victims.

Mr. Bharara praised the investigative work of the FBI.

This case is being handled by the Office’s Complex Frauds Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason P. Hernandez is in charge of the prosecution.

The charge and allegations contained in the complaint are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Turner and the Elements

28 January 2012 - 13 May 2012

http://www.turnercontemporary.org/exhibitions/turner-and-the-elements

“Magnificent paintings worth crawling on your hands and feet to Margate to see”
Novelist and Psychogeographer Iain Sinclair reviews Turner and the Elements
on Radio 4 Front Row

JMW Turner, Britain’s best-loved painter, created new and unusual combinations of earth, water, air and fire and closely examined their interactions.

In Turner and the Elements, our first major show of the painter’s work at Turner Contemporary, we explore the important role that the depiction of the elements played in his landscape watercolours and paintings.

The exhibition brings together 88 works; 76 watercolours and 12 late oil paintings, many from the Tate collection. Turner’s innovative painting technique and the influence of scientific and technological developments during his lifetime were to revolutionise landscape painting.

Today, nearly two centuries since Turner’s visits to Margate, see first-hand how his dynamic concept of landscape, unconventional use of colour and near abstract watercolours and paintings secured his place as the artist of the elements and the founder of modern landscape painting.

Works on display include Snow Storm – Steam-Boat off a Harbour’s Mouth exhibited 1842 and The New Moon; or ‘I’ve lost My Boat, You shan’t have Your Hoop’ exhibited 1840. Turner’s frequent visits to Margate and the Kent coast are vividly portrayed, with particular works chosen especially for the exhibition’s time at Turner Contemporary.

Curated by Inés Richter-Musso and Ortrud Westheider, the exhibition is the only opportunity to see this selection of works by Turner together in the UK.

Turner and the Elements is organised in collaboration with Bucerius Kunst Forum, Hamburg and The National Museum, Cracow.

"The world has never seen anything like this picture."

William Makepeace Thackeray, Frasers Magazine, 1844

“The artist delights to go back to the first chaos of the world, or to that state of things when the waters were separated from the dry land, and light from darkness, but as yet no living thing nor tree bearing fruit was seen upon the face of the earth”.
Art critic William Hazlitt commenting on Turner’s work, 1816

"This is the moment I've been waiting for, for ten years - bringing a whole exhibition of Turner's work to Margate" Director Victoria Pomery.

Art Hostage Comments:

God forbid the Tate loses another Turner lent out to a third party Museum.

Really hope security is tight during this exhibition.

Wonder who done the Risk Assessment?

Has the possibility of a "snatch and run" been considered?

Have background checks been made of security staff, cleaners, and contractors?

Could we see a repeat of the Paris, Athens Art Heists whereby a break-in see's several Turners stolen?

Could Balkan criminal associates in England target the Turners then ship them to the Balkans where they would be held (Art) Hostage until ransomed back to willing Art Loss investigators?

Stolen Art Watch, Hot Picasso, Hot Art Sets Benchmark That Others Follow

2012-01-27T15:48:00.005Z

http://www.amazon.com/Hot-Art-Chasing-Thieves-Detectives/dp/1935639382/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1327679932&sr=1-1

http://www.tinhouse.com/books/coming-soon/hot-art.html

Picasso is the most stolen artist in the world with more than 1,000 of his pieces of work missing

By Rob Cooper

27th January 2012

Appeal: The Art Loss Register offer a $25,000 reward for the return of the missing painting Madeleine Leaning on Her Elbow with Flowers in Her Hair

Pablo Picasso is the artist who has more works stolen than anyone else, according to new research.

The Spanish master currently has 1,147 paintings registered as stolen, missing or disputed, which is more than twice as many as the next on the list.

That figure rose recently when his 1939 work 'Woman's Head' was pinched from the Athens' National Art Gallery in Greece.

The Art Loss Register has compiled a list of artists who have had the highest number of works stolen and the countries where the art is mostly taken from, with Britain being the most vulnerable place.

The database lists all the stolen, missing and disputed works of art around the world.

Coming second to Picasso is the modern American artist Nick Lawrence who has 557 stolen works. Most of them went missing in one go in 2004.

In third place is Marc Chagall, the Russian-French 20th century all-rounder, who has 516 stolen works.

Karel Appel, the Dutch painter and sculptor, comes fourth with 505 stolen works, just ahead of Salvador Dali with 504. Joan Miro, David Levine, Andy Warhol, Rembrandt and Peter Reinicke make up the rest of the top ten.

Other artists on the list include Henri Matisse with 205 missing works, Rubens with 169, John Constable with 155 and Thomas Gainsborough with 97.

The Art Loss Register has also revealed that 40 per cent of thefts occurred in Britain and 16 per cent of them were in America.

Stolen: Painting of a 'Dove with Green Peas' by Pablo Picasso, was taken from the Museum of Modern Art in Paris in 2010 in the art heist of the century. There are fears it may have been destroyed. Woman's Head, was recently taken from the Athens National Art Gallery

While metal sculpture thefts have been on the rise in Britain because of the high prices of scrap, valuable works of art have long been stolen to order. They are often used as currency among criminals.

Detective Constable Ian Lawson, from the Metropolitan police's art and antiques department, said art theft was an 'ongoing problem'.

He said: 'There has certainly been an increase in the theft of statues because the price of metal has gone up.

Raided: Marc Chagall's 1914 oil on canvas Study for Over Vitebsk which was taken from New York's Jewish Museum in 2001

PAINTING HEISTS: THE TOP 10 MOST STOLEN ARTISTS IN THE WORLD

The top 10 list of artists with most works stolen:

1) Pablo Picasso - 1,147

2) Nick Lawrence - 557

3) Marc Chagall - 516

4) Karel Appel - 505

5) Salvador Dali - 505

6) Joan Miro - 478

7) David Levine - 343

7) Andy Warhol - 343

9) Rembrandt - 337

10) Peter Reinicke - 336

'War memorials and plaques are being taken for the same reason. They are easily melted down and it then becomes hard to prove what they are.'

He added that there were two types of art criminal - burglars who chance upon good paintings and those who steal to order.

'With other types of art there are really two categories of criminals. One is a burglar who breaks into a million pound house and strikes lucky,' he said.

'He steals a valuable painting and doesn't really know what to do with it. It might be sold on through a car boot sale or at an antiques fair.

'That's often what happens for art that is worth less than £10,000 or £20,000.

'But there are also organised gangs which target country houses and specific high-value art - such as the The Johnson family from Cheltenham.

'They targeted venues that they had researched, and had outlets for the art.

Rembrandt: The Child and the Soap Bubble which was stolen from the Draguignan municpal museum in southestern France

'Often the paintings are stolen and later are offered back to the owners or the insurance company for a tenth of the real value.

'That can be quite tempting for insurers. An example was the theft of the Madonna of the Yardwinder that was worth £50m and was stolen from a castle in Scotland.

'It was apparently offered back to the owners and several people were arrested but were not convicted.

'The other way art is used is as a currency in the underworld. The art is exchanged for drugs or guns.

'Art is easier to take abroad because customs officials won't suspect a painting as being stolen, but if someone took guns or drugs they would be arrested.

'And if a painting has been missing for many years it is quite easy for someone to claim legitimate ownership and it can be very difficult to prove otherwise.'

Charlotte Veenhuijzen, from the ALR, said: 'The Art Loss Register is the world's largest privately managed international database of over 360,000 lost, stolen and looted works of art and antiques and items in dispute.

'It has been collating historical data from private and public sources since its inception in 1990, many of these sources are not available in the public domain and are extremely hard to replicate.

Andy Warhol: Painting of Muhammad Ali which was taken in a raid on a Los Angeles home in September 2009. Orange Marilyn, arguably the artist's most famous work, was also taken

Stolen sketch: Salvador Dali sketch on the back of a restaurant menu was stolen from a house in Sherborne, Dorset. It is worth £30,000

'Registrations include losses and claims from museums, governments, banks, insurance companies, law enforcement agencies, including Interpol, and private individuals.

'The ALR offers itself world-wide as a central database checkpoint for due diligence enquiries and provenance research.

'Our pre-eminence in the field of stolen art has allowed the business to be instrumental in the recovery of over 160 million pounds' worth of stolen items

'We have around 1,147 lost, stolen, in dispute, in liens items registered by Picasso.

'And the ALR has been involved in the recovery of around 29 works by Picasso.'

Ivan Macquisten, editor of the Antiques Trade Gazette, said: 'Looking at most of the names in the top ten, they are all well-known artists who had very long careers, so produced vast volumes of work, which means there is more, potentially, available to steal.

'Picasso's work, as well as being highly valuable, is almost endless, while Chagall lived until he was 97 and Karel Appel started as a teenager, dying when he was well into his eighties.

'Andy Warhol didn't call his workshop the 'factory' for nothing - we're talking industrial quantities of art.

'And David Levine, amazingly, got an audition as an illustrator for Disney at the age of nine, before going on to a career as an illustrator for some of America's leading magazines, producing iconic images.'

Stolen Art Watch, Skylight Prelude As Silver Bounces Back

2012-01-25T14:59:00.009Z

Thieves enter Olympia gallery through skylight, steal artwork

'Unbelievable,' says gallery owner

OLYMPIA—

An Olympia gallery was burglarized either late Friday night or early Saturday morning by thieves who entered through a skylight. The thieves broke the skylight, rappelled into the gallery, and stole two large pieces of art.

Jo Gallaugher, the owner of the gallery, had a hard time believing just how it happened.

“In a way its flattering that burglars would go to so much trouble,” Gallaugher said.

The works were very popular among men in their 20s, said Jo Gallaugher, the owner of Matter Gallery. One was called “Tribute to the Concussed Skier” by Judd Turner and priced at $800. The other was called "Horizons II" by Jerry Williamson and priced at $600. There are far more expensive pieces in the gallery, Gallaugher said.

The thieves took advantage of darkness caused when Gallaugher turned off the gallery’s main breaker to keep melting snow from dripping down through the ceiling and onto the junction box.

"[It was] not until the police were here and actually investigated and found the footprints on the wall and the heat duct that I really believed that's what actually happened," Gallaugher said.

The thieves also attempted to steal a third piece, Gallaugher said, a coat rack fashioned to look like the space needle.

“They carried it to the back door but likely couldn't make the corner to get it out,” Gallaugher wrote in an email to Q13 FOX News.

"To see a piece that you've stolen, I can't imagine that you would feel anything positive from it every time

Man charged in connection with Cambridge University silver theft

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-16724331

Police said the silverware was taken while the college was open to the public

A 37-year-old man has been charged in connection with the theft of silverware from a Cambridge college.

The "very distinctive" altar pieces were stolen from Corpus Christi College chapel on 9 January, while it was open to the public.

The items were retrieved after being taken to a Cambridge antiques centre for valuation.

A man has been charged with handling stolen goods and will appear at Cambridge Magistrates' Court on Friday.

The silverware was returned to the police by antiques dealer Stephen Hunt, after the silverware was brought into his shop to be valued.

He said: "Generally, members of the public do not have religious artefacts and I had an instinct... that this wasn't what we would call 'right'."

Mr Hunt said he purchased the items for "a pittance" before informing the police.

Deputy of the Year Recovered Antique Silver Worth $30K

Sheriff's Deputy Roger Galvin will be honored on Wednesday

http://capitola.patch.com/articles/deputy-of-the-year-recovered-antique-silver-worth-30k

Using a map drawn by a jail inmate and suspected thief, deputy sheriff Roger Galvin drove up and down Highway 1 in San Mateo County searching for a box of antiques stolen from a rural Watsonville home last summer.

He found the 20 silver pieces—worth an estimated $30,000—on the side of the road and returned them to their rightful owner. The Zils Road man was so grateful, he pledged to auction off the items and donate the proceeds to charity.

Galvin will get his own reward for the hard work this week when he is awarded the Deputy of the Year honor by Aptos Post 10110 Veterans of Foreign Wars this week.

Every year a deputy is honored with this award for their outstanding work and dedication. This year, five deputies were nominated by supervisors.

Galvin, a 29-year-old who joined the force less than two years ago, was chosen because of his passion and commitment to the public he serves, according to deputy April Skalland, the Sheriff's Office spokeswoman.

Skalland, who also works in recruitment for the Sheriff's Office and hired Galvin, said he is very smart and computer savvy. But it was his people skills that earned Galvin praise.

In one incident, elderly woman who had been the victim of financial fraud sent a thank you letter to the Sheriff's Office about Galvin's kind and caring demeanor, Skalland said.

"He actually took her to the bank and he sat down with her while the bank went through all the fraud things and she was really thankful for that," Skalland explained.

The antique theft was another case. A resident on Zils Road, west of Watsonville off San Andreas Road, reported the theft on Aug. 25. He suspected a relative who lived in a trailer elsewhere on the property. Galvin was able to search that man's trailer and found pawn slips from shops in San Francisco, Skalland said.

By then, the suspect was in San Francisco caring for another elderly family member—sparking concern that another theft could occur. Galvin spent time visiting pawn shops in the city looking for the stolen goods, Skalland said.

The case broke when the suspect was arrested for an unrelated incident by Scotts Valley Police and Galvin got permission to question him in jail, Skalland explained.

“He confessed to the whole burglary and there were multiple victims," she said.

The suspect told Galvin he had dumped a box full of items on Highway 1 in San Mateo and drew the deputy a map to the location. Galvin drove up and down the highway until “he finally found a box of over 20 antique pieces," Skalland said.

Galvin will receive his Deputy of the Year award at a ceremony Wednesday afternoon.

Stolen French artwork to be repatriated

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/jan/24/stolen-french-artwork-to-be-repatriated/

A stolen work by French impressionist Camille Pissarro is going home after 31 years, thanks to sharp-eyed French investigators and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The work, a monotype (an oil painting transferred to paper) of a bustling market scene called “Le Marche,” was taken from the Faure Museum in Aix-les-Bains, France, in 1981, then smuggled into the United States and sold to an art gallery in San Antonio, Texas.

The work is already safely under lock and key at the French Embassy awaiting shipment to France. It was handed over to a French customs official by U.S. Customs officials last week. On Wednesday, a “repatriation” ceremony at the Kreeger Museum will re-enact the handover for the media and invited guests in the presence of the French ambassador, Francois Delattre.

ICE identified the thief as Emile Guelton, saying he “walked out of the [Faure] museum with the work under his jacket.” In 1985, according to records from a recent court case over ownership of the work, he sold “Le Marche” to J. Adelman Antiques and Art Gallery, which in turn sold it to the Sharan Corp for $8,500. The company was dissolved in 1992, and for the next 10 years one of the company’s owners, Sharyl Davis, displayed the Pissarro in her home.

But when Ms. Davis consigned the work to Sotheby's, the New York auction house, to offer “Le Marche” for sale in 2003, French investigators spotted the work in the Sotheby's catalog — valued at $60,000 to $80,000 — which also mentioned Guelton, and alerted ICE.

“We take action when anything is imported contrary to law — that’s our authority,” Randall C. Karch, the Customs officer in charge of tracking stolen art and artifacts, told The Washington Times.

In June 10, ICE instructed the auction house to withdraw the Pissarro from the sale and declared the work forfeit. Ms. Davis fought hard through the courts to maintain ownership. She brought suit to challenge the French efforts to recover the Pissarro, claiming that she was “an innocent owner” in ignorance of the fact that the picture had been stolen. But a federal jury rejected her arguments, ruling instead that “Le Marche” should be returned to the French museum under the National Stolen Property Act.

An appeals court upheld the sentence on June 3, 2011, and Wednesday Mr. Karch handed the painting to Francois Richard, the French Customs attache at the Washington embassy.

ICE chose the Kreeger Museum as the venue for the repatriation, following its practice of choosing a museum setting when possible. “It’s a small work from a small museum in France, and we’re a small museum, so the choice is appropriate,” said museum director Judy Greenberg.

For ICE the repatriation was all in a day’s work — a week’s work at any rate. The Homeland Security department charged with recovering stolen fine art and artifacts holds as many as three such ceremonies a week. Its list of recent recoveries includes Peruvian human skulls dating from AD 640-890 that had been brought into this country hidden in pottery and a Paul Klee painting recovered in Canada and returned to a museum in Germany.

“We used to recover mostly artifacts, but in the past three or four years stolen art works are becoming more numerous,” said Mr. Karch, a former anti-narcotics Customs agent who was reassigned to tracking down paintings a couple of years ago.

“It’s a growing area,” he said. “There’s a growing awareness of these crimes.”

Melbourne museum reports stolen painting, 12 years after it went missing

The National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, one of Australia's leading art galleries, has reported the theft of a painting by British landscape artist Richard Parkes Bonington – 12 years after it went missing.

The country's oldest art gallery has spent more than a decade searching for the oil painting, Low Tide at Boulogne, which is valued at £130,000. But it was not declared stolen because the gallery thought the piece may have been accidentally misplaced and did not want to falsely accuse a staff member or removalist.

Low Tide at Boulogne by Richard Parkes Bonington

The piece, which is unsigned and undated, is believed to have been painted in 1824. It was given to the gallery early last century and is believed to have gone missing in 1999, when the gallery’s 65,000 works were temporarily relocated during renovations. The theft, reported to the Victorian Government last year, came to light after a recent freedom-of-information request by the state opposition.

A report by the gallery said its council of trustees was informed in February 2003 that "in all likelihood, the Bonington work was missing".

Police were reportedly alerted that the painting was missing in 2004.

Meanwhile, the gallery decided to do a stocktake to see if it could locate the painting – a process which took eight years.

Related Articles

FBI art crimes chief 'ordered theft of Monet and Sisley'

25 Nov 2011

Recovery of Picassos major success in fight against art theft

27 Oct 2011

Finally, last year, the painting was declared stolen and placed on the International Art Loss Register.

Subsequently, the gallery director, Dr Gerard Vaughan, informed the Victorian government that "a painting in the state collection, previously considered misplaced, is now suspected to have been stolen." "In all likelihood, this painting is no longer in our possession," he wrote.

Bonington, who died of tuberculosis at age 25, lived for a long time in France and is regarded as a seminal figure in the development of European modernism.

Still, as an Australian art academic noted, the missing piece was hardly iconic and may have been easy for gallery visitors to miss.

"If you have an absolute passion for romantic French landscapes, you could be quite upset not to see this work," said Sasha Grishin, a professor of art history at the Australian National University.

"But for a normal gallery goer, even for a person who is quite passionate about the [National Gallery of Victoria] collection, it's not something that's going to strike you as a major icon missing."

Thieves seeking silver, brass and lead prey on churches

Open door policy at places of worship under threat as antiquities and memorials are taken to sell for scrap.

With its cottages of honey-coloured stone and 12th-century church, Ashton Keynes in Wiltshire could be the archetypal unspoilt English village. Here the Thames is barely a stream, and the pace of life runs as slowly as the river's waters.

So parishioners at Holy Cross church thought nothing of hauling their 19th-century brass lectern out of storage to give it a bit of a show. No matter that the church was unlocked and unsupervised during the day.

But one Sunday morning last September, they had a nasty surprise. "Somebody said, 'Where's the lectern?' and it had gone," says Peter Tuck, lay minister.

News this month that the item had been spotted in Romania, at an antiques fair, was an even greater shock. Gaye Horrell, treasurer at the church, expressed amazement that it had not been melted down, and Wiltshire police initially thought the email informing them of the find – from a curious local who had noticed the inscription referred to Ashton Keynes – was a spoof.

The local force is now confident of getting it back, but Tuck is cautious. "The local police have been speaking to Interpol but we've no idea if they still know where it is, whether they've got hold of it or whether it's been sold."

The lectern, an exuberant, gothic-revival imitation of a type common in medieval churches, takes the shape of an eagle standing on a golden orb. The eagle refers to Saint John the Evangelist and is said to symbolise the heights to which he rises in the first chapter of his gospel. Experts suggest it could make up to £3,000 if sold as an antique, though it might take many months to find a buyer.

While this bit of church kit appears to have escaped the scrapyard, the high price of metals is the main factor in the flurry of recent thefts. Artefacts used in services or to adorn altars can be just as tempting as lead roofs and gutters. The Ecclesiastical insurance company has seen the number of metal theft claims by churches increase from 1,700 in 2010 to more than 2,600 last year.

Manchester Cathedral's busy urban setting couldn't be more different from that of Holy Cross, but it faces a similar threat. On 13 January, someone walked into the medieval building on Victoria Street in the city centre and took a silver altar cross.

Elegantly designed in 1957 and donated to the cathedral by the Mothers' Union, it had adorned its lady chapel for decades. "The cathedral is open to the public every day," says the dean, Rogers Govender. "We do not charge an entry fee, and of course the place is vulnerable."

For Govender and his congregation, the value of such objects goes far beyond what they might fetch for scrap. "I feel really saddened that a house of God is not respected, that somebody could steal from it – and especially steal a cross which is the central symbol of our faith."

Anne Sloman, chair of the Church Buildings Council, said stolen silver was likely to be melted down. "That would be the worry – that the value of the solid silver is worth more than the artefact."

She and her colleagues have been lobbying for better regulation of scrap merchants, particularly when it comes to cash payments for metal, which many see as the root of the problem.

The recent spate of thefts, brazen in more ways than one, has left churchwardens everywhere facing a dilemma. "A lot of country churches do lock – but we feel it's very important the church is kept open," says Tuck in Ashton Keynes. "There's a churchyard that's still used and families come up to visit the graves. The church is there if they want to pop in for 10 minutes."

St Mary's Church, Bishopsbourne, nestled in the gently rolling Kent countryside, looks even less likely than Holy Cross to make the news for anything other than its well-kept hedgerows. "Even though it's a country church it's a bit grand," says the priest-in-charge, Stephen Hardy. "In Victorian times it had quite a makeover, including tiles by William Morris and an Edward Burne-Jones window. That's when the pieces came." He is talking about two large candlesticks covered in semi-precious stones, a 60cm (2ft) high altar cross, a church plate, a bookrest, five small vases and a small candlestick, all made of brass. They all disappeared just after Christmas. Churchwarden Gill Applin made the discovery while tidying up in the church. Hardy believes that by climbing up on to the organ, thieves were able to make their way over a screen into the vestry, where the brasses were kept.

"It was quite a shock," says Hardy. "As a young girl guide, Gill used to clean these things and now she's in her sixties. They're very much part of the family, you know." Three people were arrested in connection with the case, but the items have not been recovered.

Such stories are repeated up and down the country. St Michael with St Bartholomew Church in Great Lever, Bolton, lost brass crosses and silver chalices in a raid last year. More recently at the Catholic church of St Joseph in Sheringham, Norfolk, thieves took the bronze "corpus" of Christ from a crucifix above a grave.

In Lewisham, south London, a bronze memorial to soldiers who died in the first world war was taken from the porch of St Mary the Virgin. A couple were caught on CCTV wheeling it in a shopping trolley and convicted of theft but the memorial is still missing.

"We've got no intention of locking the church here in Bishopsbourne," says a defiant Hardy. "We don't want to go down that sort of route. Churches are spaces that people do like to go into whether or not they're of great Christian faith. People like the quiet of a church, as a place to pray and reflect.

"Obviously we'd want to take measures to make access to the vestry even harder. But we'll manage. The other week a parishioner brought in two candlesticks she had at home to use on the altar and we put up a wooden cross."

Curbs on scrap metal dealers to be announced to stop theft epidemic

Scrap dealers are to be banned from accepting cash payments to stop the "epidemic" of metal thefts, ministers will announce this week.

Metal theft is estimated to cost the economy £770 million every year as thieves target the transport system, public buildings such as schools and hospitals, and places of worship Photo: ALAMY

By David Millward, Transport Editor

Theresa May, the Home Secretary, will ban cash transactions and and introduce unlimited fines for people caught trading stolen scrap metal.

Ministers have agreed to act after public outrage at the activities of criminals who have pillaged churches, stripped war memorials, stolen valuable sculptures, plunged villages into darkness and wrought havoc on the rail industry.

Metal theft is estimated to cost the country £1 billion a year, with more than 1,000 offences taking place every week.

The ban on cash trading will be implemented by a new clause in the Legal Aid Bill, which is currently before MPs.

In addition the Government is also ready to scrap the £1,000 limit on fines for trading stolen scrap metal. Both measures are expected to come into force by April.

The announcement falls short, however, of proposals by Graham Jones, the Labour MP for Hyndburn, who called for anyone selling scrap metal to provide proof of identity.

Last week the Government refused to sign up to a Private Members Bill drawn up by Mr Jones, leading to accusations that the Government was dragging its feet on the issue.

There had also been some resistance to curbs within Whitehall with the Department for Business understood to be wary about adding to “the burden of red tape”.

However such doubts have now been settled much to the relief of those who have suffered worst at the hands of the thieves.

“We have said for a long time that the single most effective step in combating this would be to ending or at least regulating cash trading in scrap,” said a Church of England spokesman.

“If the criminal justice system could also have an effective deterrent, then that would also be something that we welcome.’

A Network Rail spokesperson said: “Passengers and businesses that rely on the railway will be delighted at any tough measures to tackle cable theft on the railway.

“We have long maintained that the most effective way to significantly reduce metal crime is to take away the illegal market and that more robust legislation and police powers are needed to achieve that.”

A spokesman for the Energy Networks Association, which suffers 20 attacks a day, called for stronger measures.

“Were a cashless system to be introduced it would deal a significant blow to criminals disposing of their illegal scrap and unlimited fines would certainly add a further deterrent.

“However, we need a full package of measures and we urge Government to propose additional steps to protect our infrastructure and heritage as part of the next Parliament.”

A spokesman for the British Metals Recycling Association endorsed the principle of unlimited fines.

“We believe fines should reflect the damage caused by the theft not just the value of the metal which has been stolen”

But the prospect of banning cash trading still caused the Association concerns. “We are not against banning cash trading, but at the moment all that will happen is that a lot of the trade will just go to unlicensed yards, which are outside the system.

“Let’s get those illegal yards shut down first and then we can look at cashless trading.”

Stolen Art Watch, Balkans (Stolen Art) Buy-Backs Attracts Art Loss Grifter's

2012-01-22T17:28:00.007Z

Balkans targeted in hunt for stolen art

This is a prime opportunity for art recovery experts to retrieve works

http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/Balkans-targeted-in-hunt-for-stolen-art/25391

When two paintings by Picasso, stolen from a Swiss gallery in Pfäffikon, turned up in Belgrade last October, the Serbian police refused to provide any information on the chain of events leading to their recovery. But The Art Newspaper has learned that Dick Ellis, the former head of the Metropolitan Police Art & Antiques Unit and now a private investigator, played a key role in the return of Tête de Cheval (horse’s head), 1962, and Verre et Pichet (glass and pitcher), 1944, which were on loan from the Sprengel Museum, Hanover, with an insurance value of “several million” dollars.

Ellis told us that he has set up a specialist art recovery firm, Art Management, with four Serbians, including businessmen and private investigators, to focus on the Balkan region. European art recovery experts are increasingly concentrating on developing their businesses in the Balkans to track down stolen works of art circulating in the region’s criminal networks. We understand that, in addition to Ellis’ firm, at least two other private investigators are active in the region, while the Art Loss Register (ALR) has launched a campaign targeting Balkan criminals.

The ALR, whose representatives made around eight trips to the region last year, presented a briefing document at a conference in Barcelona last October, setting out options for recovery in a notoriously difficult region. Since the break-up of Yugoslavia and the subsequent war, the authorities have largely focused on hunting war criminals and combating drug trafficking. However, the region has become an important transit point for art stolen from France, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, the former Czechoslovakia, Holland and Belgium by well-known gangs including the “Balkan Bandits” and the “Pink Panthers”. While Serbia is the main base for the gangs, many of the stolen works are emerging in surrounding Macedonia, Kosovo and Montenegro.

Charlie Hill, another former Met Police detective, says that, despite the silly names, “these … are all-singing, all-dancing criminals. The problem with art crime in the Balkans is that it’s a fascinating nightmare—the criminals are a nightmare but the art turning up is fascinating.”

A golden opportunity?

Criminals are thought to be under pressure from their own governments who are keen to improve relations with the EU and Nato. And while the economic outlook in Europe remains grim, the Balkan states are benefiting from increased inward investment in core infrastructure as well as tourism, providing legitimate business and investment opportunities for criminals. Meanwhile, increasing levels of due diligence by foreign art dealers and intensified efforts at recovery by police, insurers and victims, are further strong incentives for criminals to dispose of stolen goods.

Ethical issues

In its briefing document, the ALR says it hopes to offer people in possession of stolen works, or works with doubtful provenance, a “window of opportunity” in which to surrender them. The company says there is a risk that art will otherwise be destroyed, and adds it will only make payments “for the recovery of items stolen years ago, where those actually involved at the time are likely to be dead or incapable of further crime or in those cases where the individual has been turned into a useful source on other cases”. In an attempt to prevent the encouragement of further thefts by Balkan gangs, there will be no negotiations on thefts committed after 2010, “when [the company] made more direct contact with the gangs involved”.

Ellis, who is equally wary of encouraging the thieves, says he will offer rewards for information rather than buying works back, but only when he is confident the source was not involved in the original crime.

Concerns around making payments for stolen works were raised during the Tate’s recovery of two Turner paintings, Shade and Darkness and Light and Colour, both 1843, for £8m in 1999. The Tate sought approval to pursue the recovery, which was granted by a Frankfurt court, but Julian Radcliffe, the chairman of the ALR, says such a formal route can be slow and expensive. The “informal amnesty” being offered by the ALR does not have specific permission from authorities in the Balkan states, which could prove problematic if the region’s police forces expand their own investigations.

An EU-wide law, to strengthen intergovernmental co-operation, was discussed in Budapest last month, but is not expected any time soon. Meanwhile, a recovery of €1m worth of paintings stolen in France, including a work by Maurice Utrillo, is said to be imminent, according to trade sources.

Art Hostage Comments:

Seems Julian Radcliffe has done an almighty U-turn from when he said last September:

"Anyone, including lawyers, who thinks that they can obtain rewards for the return of stolen art without providing full information on who had them and why, should be prosecuted." — Julian Radcliffe, ALR Chairman, quoted in Antiques and the Arts Weekly, 2 September 2011.

If the Athens Picasso theft recently turns out to be destined for the Balkans then would the fact Dick Ellis facilitated in payments for the two Picasso's recovered in a bank vault in Serbia back in October 2011 be one reason behind the Athens Picasso heist ?

The outstanding Cezanne and Degas stolen back in 2008 from Switzerland are currently held in Montenegro having been sent there shortly after the theft and have been offered back for $100,000 a couple of years ago.

The Art Loss Register is offering an amnesty of sorts for stolen art taken before 2010, therefore the Cezanne and Degas are included.

This means if the Art Loss Register recovers them they are in line for their standard fee of 20% plus Value Added Tax up to the first Million and 15% plus Value added tax subsequently. Meaning the Art Loss Register stands to collect £27 million based upon the Cezanne and Degas being valued at £150 million.

No doubt the Art Management Group and Dick Ellis will have a similar fee system in place which means they would also collect a multi-million pound sterling pay-off if they recover the Cezanne and Degas.

So, to recap, Art Loss Grifters like The Art Loss Register, Dick Ellis, Art Management Group etc facilitate a small payment, say $100,000 for the Cezanne and Degas, filtered to the thieves or handlers via a patsy, e.g. the Serbian businessmen referred to by Dick Ellis he used in recovering the two Picasso's from a bank vault in Belgrade Serbia last October 2011, then the Art Loss Grifters like The Art Loss Register, Dick Ellis, Art Management Group etc collect multi-million pounds sterling payoffs from victims, museum's or insurers.

Are the Foxes guarding the Hen House with respect to art loss recovery in the Balkans?

Stolen Art Watch, Something Hot (Art) For The Weekend

2012-01-21T12:52:00.008Z

Books: Hot Art, by Joshua Knelman

http://www.therecord.com/whatson/books/article/658446--books-hot-art-by-joshua-knelman

Hot Art: Chasing Thieves and Detectives though the Secret World of Stolen Art, by Joshua Knelman (Douglas & McIntyre, 314 pages, $29.95 hardcover) — From the middle ages until 1995 there was something in the south London borough of Bermondsey called a market ouvert.

Anything sold in this market between sunset and dawn, literally under the cover of darkness, conveyed legal title to the purchase, no matter how dodgy its provenance. Unscrupulous dealers bought antiques and fine art from even more dishonest burglars and conmen, who had likely acquired them within the previous 12 hours.

If you have ever bought an antique in London, there is a chance that it was stolen. Bermondsey, literally, was a thieves’ market. Equally, if you have ever bought something though an auction houses such as Christie’s or Sothebys’s or Bonham’s or Phillips, there is a possibility the person who consigned it may not have been the legal owner.

If you were after a Rembrandt or a Vermeer, anything in the $10 million-plus range, you are probably safe. Paintings such as Vermeer’s The Concert, stolen in 1990 from the Isabella Steward Gardner in Boston, or the Dulwich (London) museum’s portrait of Jacob de Gheyn III, nicknamed Rembrandt’s most stolen painting, are too well known to be sold in public. They are either returned in exchange for a ransom, hoarded by a rich but corrupt collector, or used as collateral in a major drug deal.

It is the much, much less valuable works that end up being fenced through auction or dealers, author Joshua Knelman explains. Only one per cent of stolen art and antiques is ever recovered. The police don’t have the expertise or manpower to deal with art theft, especially when they are dealing with unresolved murders and sexual assaults, crimes they consider genuinely worth their attention.

Knelman, who is a founding editor of the Toronto-based The Walrus magazine, spent five years probing the world of international art theft. In a convincing manner and with fascinating detail his book shows that the villains who steal art and antiques are not charmers like Pierce Brosnan in The Thomas Crown Affair but crooks who specialize in items that are small, light and valuable.

William Christian is a retired University of Guelph political science professor. He is the author of the 2008 biography Parkin: Canada’s Most Famous Forgotten Man.

Order Hot Art Here:

http://www.amazon.com/Hot-Art-Chasing-Thieves-Detectives/dp/1935639382/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1327159505&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hot-Art-Chasing-Thieves-Detectives/dp/1935639382/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1327159421&sr=1-1

http://www.tinhouse.com/books/coming-soon/hot-art.html

Treasures from the police stolen property room

http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/2012/01/treasures-police-stolen-property-room/2120241

Here's the scene: Flashing police lights and officers pull over a suspect van. Two thieves are found inside along with cartons of stolen electronics and computers.

The scene: A bare-bones apartment where police respond to a domestic dispute. After calming the situation, they discover a horde of stolen jewelry and expensive Rolex watches.

The scene: Officers respond to a 9-11 home invasion call and are lucky enough to catch the perp red-handed. A subsequent search of his storage locker reveals clearly stolen goods, including fur coats, coin collections and framed pieces of fine art.

These and similar scenes are played out every day in communities across the country. Some victims are lucky enough to recover their stolen goods -- that keepsake cameo Grandma handed down or the pearl-handle pistol Uncle Joe bequeathed -- but often the confiscated items remain stored away in police property rooms because no one comes to claim them.

Some victims don't file a police report because they don't want to call attention to themselves. Other times, a homeowner will file a report with their local P.D. but their items are discovered two or three states away. There's no way overburdened police departments can share information about a missing racing bike or a stolen iPhone. The result: Property rooms bursting at the seams with dust-covered merchandise.

State laws vary, but generally, law enforcement is required to hold on to items for a certain length of time and then auction them off.

It costs a mountain of taxpayer money just to manage all this property and to divert trained officers from law enforcement to mere clerk duty seems like a waste of a valuable resource.

In a move that grew out of true American ingenuity, a retired detective from Long Beach, N.Y., came up with a unique idea to lift the property-room burden off cop-shops nationwide.

Tom Lane, the son of a police officer, is a been-there, done-that former cop who well remembers being assigned to clean out the property room. Today, with his brother John, he runs PropertyRoom.com, an online auction house primarily featuring police confiscated goods.

It's a site where consumers can get astounding deals on jewelry, coins, furs, computers, car stereos and GPS systems, bicycles -- even gold or silver bullion and luxury cars. Many items on the site start at a bid of just one dollar, and if no one beats your bids in the allotted time, you win!

Lane, whose pitch to law enforcement is simple -- "I'm gonna haul away your headaches and send back money!" -- currently has deals with more than 2,700 departments across the country. His company sends a truck to pick up the goods then researches their worth, documents them in photos and posts them online for auction. Lane and his crew of former detectives (and one retired IRS agent) take pride in their prompt delivery service to winning bidders.

To date, PropertyRoom.com's chief operating officer, P.J. Bellomo, told me, they've funneled more than $36 million back into local police coffers -- departments as far flung as Albuquerque, Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Fargo, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, St. Louis -- the list goes on and on. In addition to the extra money, communities get a police force that can concentrate on public safety.

This has proven to be such a burden lifted that now local municipalities are asking to participate too, having PropertyRoom.com sell off used lawnmowers and cars, office furniture and other items. When those sales are factored in, Bellomo says, PropertyRoom.com has raised a total of $40 million for communities.

Naturally, police want to reunite victims with their stolen property whenever possible and so does Lane's company. If a citizen finds his or her item on his website and can prove it is theirs, PropertyRoom.com will send it to that person free of charge.

One man spotted his missing silver cup sailing trophy up for sale. It was a sentimental award won by him and his daughter right before she went away to college. When the man was able to recite what was engraved on it, he got it back.

The owner of a long-lost class ring was reunited with his memento and so was a citizen whose custom-made, one-of-a-kind racing bike was stolen. Perhaps the most memorable item returned was an antique accordion brought to this country from communist Yugoslavia and stolen from a car during a visit to California. The man who owned it plaintively blogged about the loss on an accordion aficionados website.

A year later, a reader of that site noticed the unique instrument up for sale at PropertyRoom.com and alerted the owner. When asked for proof that it was his, the Yugoslavian man instructed the caller to open the bellows clasp and look inside for his name. His prized accordion was promptly sent.

Look, in this time of austerity, our cities need to think outside the box to both save money and keep us safe. This idea seems like a no-brainer.

And while many of us are still paying off Christmas purchases and worrying about buying that special Valentine's gift, you might want to check out PropertyRoom.com.

Art Crime Around The World

http://chasingaphrodite.com/2012/01/19/hecht-trial-ends-with-no-verdict-medici-conviction-affirmed/

http://surfky.com/index.php/paducah/235-statewide-kentucky-news/9176-fbi-captures-stolen-civil-war-flag

http://www.boiseweekly.com/Cobweb/archives/2012/01/20/art-crime-expert-robert-wittman-captivates-boise

http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/?id=492828&type=National

http://www.gazette.com/articles/springs-131652-guilty-stealing.html

http://articles.coastlinepilot.com/2012-01-12/news/tn-cpt-0113-gallery-20120111_1_art-thefts-north-gallery-owner-bob-kronquist

http://openchannel.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/28/9067033-a-400-million-twist-huguette-clark-signed-two-wills-one-to-her-family

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/19/metropolitan-museum-washington-crossing-the-delaware_n_1216312.html

http://www.castanet.net/news/Crime-Stoppers/69363/Unsolved-crimes-West-Kelowna

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/19/idUS305110399820120119

Stolen Art Watch, When i-rish Eyes Are Smiling

2012-01-19T11:33:00.013Z

Great iPhone art robbery: Paintings worth millions stolen to order by gang directed by video phone

An armed gang stole art worth millions in a daring hi-tech heist, we can reveal.

They used an iPhone-style mobile to film valuable treasures in a retired vicar’s home in Co Armagh – while an art expert on the end of the line told them what to steal.

The two men had attacked and tied up the vicar after forcing their way into his home.

Then they made off with furniture and paintings, including 18th-century works by Venetian artist Canaletto – before smashing up anything they had to leave behind.

The owner, a retired vicar, was beaten, bound and gagged by the armed pair who stole-to-order near-priceless paintings including Canalettos painted in the mid-1700s.

The robbers, who had Irish accents, also took valuable antique furniture and other collectables. Before fleeing they smashed up anything left behind with a hatchet.

The elderly bachelor who has dealt in art and antiques for decades asked the Irish Daily Mirror not to identify him as he is living in fear for his personal safety.

And we have learned the robbers also took his contacts book which is littered with the personal details of wealthy people including members of the
Guinness family and multi-millionaire Edward Haughey.

Many contacts already have been warned by the victim, the PSNI and the gardai to up their security following the robbery on January 3. The extent of the theft is still being catalogued but the value of the property is understood to run into the multi-millions

A source said: “This robbery was well-planned and ruthlessly executed. They had possibly been watching the house for months, watching the major art sales where the victim was well known.

“They waited and then they struck and they have left an old man battered, terrified and ill with worry. He already had a heart problem but now he’s living on his nerves and he has lost all his lovely things.”

The victim is believed to be wealthy in his own right with a house in Chelsea and until the raid, he owned a world-class art collection in his sprawling home.

A source said: “The victim of this attack and robbery is a well-respected and much-loved member of society. He is a deeply religious gentleman who’s liked by everyone who knows him.

“He has given years of dedication to the local people in his position within the church but also as a neighbour and friend. It’s appalling to know what he’s been through and he’s very reticent to talk about it because he’s afraid to draw attention to himself.”

The two men worked with a third party to assist them with the robbery. A source said: “They were on the phone to someone outside the house and from what I understand they used a hi-tech phone to show the third party which pieces were in the house.

“They wanted to know which were most valuable because those are the ones that were stolen. There was a lot taken, an awful lot.

“This was a horrendous experience for the victim and it was carefully planned and executed.”

A police spokesman said: “Our colleagues in An Garda Siochana have been notified and are working with the PSNI on this matter.”

Art Hostage Comments:

South Armagh has historically been governed by the South Armagh Brigade of the Irish Republican Army six families, the Traynors, Hughes, Caraher, Quinn, McArdle and the Murphy families.

At the helm was General Thomas Slab Murphy, who is currently the victim of a rancid, sectarian, vindictive prosecution regarding his tax affairs from the 1990's. Order was kept by these families and traditional criminality was a rarity towards the local population. General Thomas Slab Murphy was one of the leading figures of the Irish Peace process along with others in the five families including Sean Hughes.

An integral part of the peace process was supposed to be an amnesty for the South Armagh Brigade relating to fund raising for the Irish Republican Army during the Struggle relating to fuel smuggling and ciggerette smuggling.

The Sinn Fein leadership bears some responsibility in abandoning the South Armagh Brigade and now South Armagh has become a lawless area once more.

So called Dissident Republicans still have much support in the Borderlands and it may turn out that this raid was carried out by elements related to them.

If indeed this raid turns out to be a replica of the Russbourgh House raid back in the 70's and 80's then the only way to recover the haul would be a deal whereby the rancid sectarian prosecution and persecution of General Thomas Slab Murphy is consigned to the dustbin of history (where it belongs) which in turn could lead to the safe return of the art stolen.

Whilst General Thomas Slab Murphy has had nothing to do with this raid and is not implicated in any way shape or form, he could use his considerable influence to facilitate the safe recovery of the stolen art.

Bobby Storey gets a car, expences and a seat at the top table, General Thomas Slab Murphy gets a rancid sectarian prosecution, truth stranger than fiction.

Upon another note, Martin "The Viper" Foley is still smarting from being duped by authorities for recovering some stolen art taken from Russbourough House and not being paid. He along with other Dublin conventional criminals could be implicated in this raid.

Two similar raids were carried out on properties in Co Armagh two years ago.

Will be interesting to see how this turns out, more to follow................

Stolen Art Watch,300 Pieces Of Jewellery Taken In Glasgow Auctioneer Raid

2012-01-18T13:58:00.005Z

More than 300 items of jewellery were stolen from McTear's safe

Jewellery worth £430,000 stolen from McTear's Auctioneers

More than 300 items of jewellery were stolen from McTear's safe

Jewellery worth about £430,000 has been stolen during a break-in at an auction house in Glasgow.

Police said more than 300 items, mainly ladies rings, earrings, bracelets and necklaces, were taken from McTear's Auctioneers on Tuesday.

A man was captured on CCTV entering the premises in Meiklewood Road at about 06:55 and leaving 20 minutes later.

A member of staff arrived afterwards to find the auction house unlocked, the alarm deactivated and the safe open.

Det Sgt Jane Lawson, from Strathclyde Police: "We have been checking CCTV as well as making extensive inquiries to trace those responsible for the theft of this jewellery.

Suspect description

"So far we are able to say that suspect arrived wearing a black woollen hat, a high-viz vest, and dark clothing and was carrying a black hold-all.

"A few minutes later a car with its headlights on arrived into the car park outside the auctioneers."

Det Sgt Lawson asked anyone who was in Meiklewood Road and saw a car leaving the car park of McTear's Auctioneers at about 07:20 to get in touch.

She added: "We are also releasing photographs of the jewellery which has been stolen.

"I would ask the public, especially those in the jewellery industry, to take a look at them and contact officers if they have been offered any items for sale."

Stolen Art Watch, Hot Art Goes Greek, Athens Picasso Purloined, Dick Ellis In Hot Pursuit

2012-01-14T14:05:00.011Z

Dick Ellis, oil on canvas; 2010; detail of larger canvas "Gardner Gossips" by Charles Vincent Sabba http://gardnergossips.blogspot.com/2011/12/begginning-and-its-story.html

Chasing Hot Art

This week, art thieves made off with a Picasso and a Mondrian from Greece's National Art Gallery. So what's their next move? Art detective Richard Ellis is the man who tracked down Edvard Munch's "The Scream" in 1994, and is the founder of the Art and Antiques Squad at New Scotland Yard. He is also featured in a new book called Hot Art: Chasing Thieves and Detectives Through the Secret World of Stolen Art, by Joshua Knelman. We have two copies of Hot Art to give away, just send us an email at Day6@CBC.ca with the subject line HOT ART and your mailing address to be entered in the random draw.

To catch an art thief

The Day 6 host talks to art crime expert Dick Ellis, Linked Below:

http://www.cbc.ca/day6/blog/2012/01/13/chasing-hot-art/

When thieves made off with three prominent artworks — including a Picasso and a Mondrian — from Greece's National Art Gallery this week, no one in authority would comment on the dollar value of the haul.

"The value of the pieces has not been revealed," sniffed the Daily Mail, which then went on to speculate on the worth of the Picasso, a wartime masterpiece the artist donated to the Greek people in 1949.

But there is a reason the museum declined to attach a dollar value to the missing art: It helps the thieves set their resale price.

"Value is established, unfortunately, through the media," art crime specialist Dick Ellis told me this week on CBC Radio's Day 6.

"There is a tendency following an art theft for the media to arrive at the highest possible value because it makes for a better story.

"Criminals will take the highest published value and they will work anywhere between three to 10 per cent of that reported value as its black market value."

Art does not fulfill an aesthetic function when it slips into the underworld. "Art is actually being used as a currency," says Ellis. "It will be used as a way to pay for other criminal enterprises such as arms or drugs or people trafficking."

Beautiful collateral

Ellis is one of the world's top art cops. He has investigated the theft of art and antiques for decades.

In his earlier days, he set up and ran the Art and Antiques Squad at New Scotland Yard and he also controlled security for Christies.

In 1994 he designed an operation that recovered The Scream, the Edvard Munch masterpiece stolen from the National Gallery of Norway on the opening day of the Lillehammer Olympic Games. Last year he helped return two stolen Picassos.

From his vantage, stolen art, especially higher profile works like the Picasso or the Mondrian lifted in Athens, becomes a poker chip in the hands of international crime.

Unlike large cash transactions, which banks increasingly monitor, paintings can cross borders with relative ease.

In the high stakes criminal economy, a valuable painting can become collateral for a cash advance, enabling the money laundering of drug profits.

So when a media outlet claims a stolen painting is worth millions of dollars, the collateral value skyrockets.

Good to have a plan

Still, in order to play this game, the thief needs to have connections to a diversified, cash-flush criminal network.

The heisters who stole a Magritte from the Rene Magritte museum in Brussels in 2009 weren't connected.

They lifted Magritte's Olympia at gunpoint in a daytime robbery. But when they failed to find a buyer, they offered the painting back to the museum, no strings attached.

Last week, the museum confirmed the Magritte had been returned. The 1948 work, a nude portrait of the artist's wife, was valued at about $4 million. Museums are apparently happy to disclose the value of a painting that they just recovered.

Ellis says some thefts are undertaken with the idea that the stolen work can be ransomed. But he says unless the owner is a private collector, that's not a good plan.

The bandits who stole The Scream were hoping the Norwegian government would shell out to get back their national treasure.

"We knew the Norwegian government wasn't going to pay a ransom," Ellis says. "Governments don't pay ransom for art. It's covered by a national indemnity as I'm sure the paintings in Athens will be.

"They never insure them against theft because they will always want the pictures back."

No Bond villains

There's a stereotype of the kind of person who amasses a dazzling collection of stolen art: a Bond villain with impeccable aesthetics, ruthlessly amoral and with deep pockets to fuel his compulsion. Ellis says it's a total fantasy.

The nearest there has been to somebody who actually went out and stole art because he had a passion for it was Stéphane Breitwieser in France. He stole nearly 300 works of art, took them back to his mother's house. And there he kept them.

Breitwieser, who was caught in 1997, amassed a collection worth an estimated $1.4 billion US, but he was hardly an international villain. Breitwieser was a waiter.

The more common heists are like the two stolen Picassos that Ellis tracked for three years before he found them last October in Serbia. They had moved around Europe after they were lifted from a Swiss gallery.

"The paintings were stolen by Serbian nationals who were looking for work in Switzerland," Ellis says. They hustled the loot back to Serbia where it was fenced by organized crime groups.

"Some of the art works were actually being used to acquire drugs from South America," he says.

So where does Ellis think the three pieces stolen from the museum in Athens are now?

If the thieves were truly pros, he says, "they will have had an escape route that was well planned. They're going to lay the artwork down, let the dust settle before they start moving it across borders. So I would start looking in Greece.

"But the borders are pretty porous. My guess is sooner rather than later these pictures will be moved to somewhere safer for the criminals to operate."

It took thieves seven minutes to remove Picasso's Woman's Head, Mondrian's Mill and a 16th century sketch from Greece's National Art Galley early Monday morning.

The museum, which was preparing for an extensive shutdown to renovate and expand, remains closed until further notice.

Stolen Art Watch, Graff Heist Re-Cut Yellow Diamond Tug Of War

2012-01-13T18:24:00.004Z

Stolen Graff jewel turns up in Hong Kong

A yellow diamond stolen from Graff on London’s Sloane Street in a 2007 robbery has surfaced in a Hong Kong pawn shop.

The stolen 16.64ct yellow diamond had been recut into a 16.28ct modified cushion-cut diamond but was still recognised by the Gemmological Institute of America (GIA) in New York when it was sent by pawn shop Yau On Pawn for certification in 2011.

At the time of the robbery in 2007, when more than £13 million of jewellery was stolen in a single heist, police circulated details of the jewellery to jewellers around the globe but none of the items have turned up until now.

Once the GIA determined that the diamond sent to it was a Graff stone it informed the British diamond company which in turn asked Yau On Pawn to return the stone in January last year. The pawn shop refused and so Graff has now taken the matter to court in the US claiming that as the diamond is stolen goods, Yau On Pawn has no right to the stone.

Yau On Pawn has denied recognising the stolen Graff diamond when it bought the stone from a customer for HKD3 million (£251,000). The store claims that the diamond was sold to it with full source documentation.

The 2007 robbery at Graff’s Sloane Street store was the stuff of legend when two suited-and-booted men arrived at the shop in a Bentley. Once inside the store they chatted briefly to staff before pulling out silver handguns and leaving with a haul of jewellery worth more than £13 million.

Graff robbery diamond turns up in Hong Kong pawn shop

London jeweller sues in New York to get gem back after it was recognised as part of 2007 haul while being valued

A diamond stolen from Graff Diamonds of London in one of the UK's biggest jewellery heists has turned up in a Hong Kong pawn shop – and is now being kept under lock and key in New York while the owner sues to get it back.

The more than 16-carat yellow diamond has been identified as one of those stolen in a July 2007 hold-up at Graff Diamonds in New Bond Street, Mayfair, according to court papers. Two men stepped out of a Bentley Continental Flying Spur limousine, pretended to be shoppers and chatted up store staff before producing handguns and stealing diamond and gem-studded rings, necklaces, pendants and earrings.

The haul was valued at up to £26m ($39m) at the time, though amounts of up to £42m have been given in different reports. If the diamond is from Graff's it would appear to be the first and only piece recovered since the robbery.

The Hong Kong shop submitted the diamond for certification to the Gemological Institute of America, according to the lawsuit filed by Graff's at the New York supreme court in Manhattan. The institute turned out to have certified the diamond before the robbery and determined it was the same one, albeit recut.

Graff's says it "is and was the true owner of the diamond and entitled to immediate possession of the diamond" but the pawn shop will not let the institute return it. The court papers do not give a value and the company's lawyer did not immediately return a call.

There was no answer or voicemail at the Hong Kong shop. The institute said it could not discuss the matter because of the dispute but it regularly worked with police when stones were reported lost or stolen.

Four men were eventually convicted over the Graff Diamonds robbery. Aman Kassaye, who planned and executed it, was found guilty of conspiracy to rob, kidnapping and possession of a firearm after a three-month trial at Woolwich crown court in London. He was given 23 years' jail.

Solomun Beyene, 25, of London, Clinton Mogg, 43, of Bournemouth, and Thomas Thomas, 46, of Kingston upon Thames were each jailed for 16 years after also being convicted of conspiracy to rob.

In 2003 the New Bond Street store was robbed of an estimated £23m worth of gems. A man was convicted of that theft and jailed for 15 years.

Various other Graff outlets in London have been targeted in a string of robberies dating back as far as 1980, and a Dubai store was also robbed in 2007.

Stolen Art Watch,Tinfoil Hats, Tin House, Hot Art, Coming Soon, March 2012 Acutally

2012-01-11T18:06:00.009Z

Hot Art: Chasing Thieves and Detectives Through the Secret World of Stolen Art Coming Soon

http://www.tinhouse.com/books/coming-soon/hot-art.html

Hot Art traces Joshua Knelman’s five-year immersion in the shadowy world of art theft, where he uncovers a devious game that takes him from Egypt to Los Angeles, New York to London, and back again, through a web of deceit, violence, and corruption.

With a cool, knowing eye, Knelman delves into the lives of professionals such as Paul, a brilliant working-class kid who charmed his way into a thriving career organizing art thefts and running loot across the United Kingdom and beyond, and LAPD detective Donald Hrycyk, one of the few special investigators worldwide who struggle to keep pace with the evolving industry of stolen art. As he becomes more and more immersed in this world, Knelman learns that art theft is no fringe activity—it has evolved into one of the largest black markets in the world, which even Interpol and the FBI admit they cannot contain. In this battle, the thieves are winning.

Sweeping and fast-paced, Hot Art is a major work of investigative journalism and a thrilling joyride into a mysterious criminal world.

Reviews

"Hot Art: Chasing Thieves and Detectives through the Secret World of Stolen Art creeps up on you. Wickedly entertaining.... Joshua Knelman’s in-depth investigation of the international trade in stolen art may read like a TV crime novel, but it delves deeper than that, deftly allowing art theft to serve as an extended metaphor for exploitive, unregulated, free-for-all global capitalism." —Literary Review of Canada

"let me know when your book hits the shelves and i'll go and shoplift myself a copy." —e-mail from Banksy

"Lo, thriller readers & writers: Just got Joshua Knelman's nonfic Hot Art, re: art thieves & detecs hunting them - you will love!" --Tweet by Margaret Atwood

“Joshua Knelman’s Hot Art has it all: fascinating characters, great stories, and an intriguing subject matter, the world of art crimes. It is totally engrossing. I couldn’t stop reading it.” —Ted Kotcheff, Executive Producer, Law & Order: SVU

"With an eye for detail worthy of Rembrandt's Landscape with Cottages (1654, stolen from the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in 1972), Joshua Knelman has painted a luminous portrait of the interconnected world of thieves, cops, and lawyers obsessed with stolen art. Whether he's writing about those who covet the art or those who protect it, Knelman's gifts as an investigator and storyteller drip from every page. Hot Art? Hot book." —Jeremy Keehn, Harper's Magazine

"This is a crackerjack of a book--with enough rogues, thieves, and amoral civilians (not all of them on the radar of relentless cops) to people a dozen crime novels. First-rate." —Giles Blunt, best-selling author of the John Cardinal mystery series, including Crime Machine and Forty Words for Sorrow.

"Now this is investigative reporting. Dogged, fearless, and thrillingly thorough, Joshua Knelman becomes our Virgil through the secret underworld of stolen art. Like legendary muckrakers Bob Woodward, Seymour Hersh, and Barlett and Steele, Knelman relentlessly trails both the bad guys and the slightly less bad guys, looking for truth amidst all the deceit. It's an astonishing debut, and serious readers must take note--long-form reporting has a new title in the canon." —Richard Poplak, author of Ja No Man: Growing up White in Apartheid Era South Africa, The Sheik's Batmobile: Pop Culture in the Middle East, and Kenk: A Graphic Novel

"Knelman's book is the Godfather of investigative journalism. He takes us to places we always wanted to be but didn't dare to enter, he makes us fall for people we are not supposed to love--on both side of the law. Congratulations, this is haute art!" —Andras Hamori, Executive Producer, The Sweet Herearfter and Fugitive Pieces

“Art theft is one of the largest underground markets in the world, yet very few people know how it works, or how to stop it. Joshua Knelman delves into this uncharted world with an open curiosity, befriending the detectives dedicated to retrieving stolen art, the lawyers struggling to protect cultural property, and the thieves who have their own reasons for doing what they do. These pages are full of shady characters and experts determined to outwit each other; an intriguing look at human lusts and foibles. Hot Art is fascinating, smart, and a page-turner.” Catherine Osborne, Deputy Editor, Azure Magazine

Joshua Knelman is an award-winning journalist and editor. He was a founding editorial member of The Walrus magazine, and his writing has appeared in Toronto Life, Saturday Night, the National Post, and The Globe and Mail. Also the coeditor of Four Letter Word: New Love Letters, he lives in Toronto.

http://www.tinhouse.com/books/coming-soon/hot-art.html

Stolen Art Watch, Ruby Liberty Bell Heist, Send In Robert Wittman

2012-01-10T14:37:00.005Z

Robert Wittman Needed To Solve Ruby Liberty Bell Heist

Priceless ruby sculpture taken in theft

Liberty Bell likeness had been headed for museum

WILMINGTON -- When four bandits pulled off a dramatic smash-and-grab robbery and tied up four employees at a swank Wilmington jewelry store in November, they made off with more than the $2 million worth of high-end pieces adorned with diamonds, gold, emeralds and other precious gems. They also took a rare piece, valued at about $2 million alone, made from what the FBI calls the largest mined ruby in the world.

That piece, known as the Liberty Bell Ruby, is a one-of-a-kind sculpture that its California owners hoped to sell to a philanthropist who would donate it to the National Liberty Museum in Philadelphia.

Jim Stein, owner of Stuart Kingston Jewelers on Pennsylvania Avenue in Wilmington, kept the jewel in his walk-in vault for about two years while trying to broker a deal to sell the ruby.

About 5 inches high and weighing 4 pounds, the ruby found near Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa more than a half-century ago was sculpted into a Liberty Bell guarded by a bald eagle and bedecked with 50 diamonds, one for each state. Though the ruby is not of gem quality and lacks the clarity to be made into conventional jewelry, Stein said the sculpture is unique, more a work of art than jewelry.

The News Journal learned about the theft of the ruby when a reporter was searching the FBI's website for an unrelated story. On Nov. 1, when the heist occurred in broad daylight at the store in the same complex as the busy Michael Christopher hair salon and Santa Fe restaurant, a short news release by Wilmington police did not mention the ruby.

Wilmington police said they asked the FBI to disseminate more information about the crime within days. The FBI put the additional information on its website on Nov. 17, but neither agency notified Delaware media about the ruby. Neither the FBI nor city police would comment on the status of the investigation.

The FBI's release contained new details about the crime, including a picture of the ruby, surveillance photos of the four suspects -- three who wore ski masks and one who waved a gun -- and a replica of the U-Haul rental van with stolen New York license plates that the robbers used. The bandits took cash from the register and used small sledgehammers to smash glass cases holding the most expensive pieces, some valued at more than $75,000, Stein and fellow employees said.

'It cost me a robbery'

Stein and his staff gave The News Journal a blow-by-blow account about the bold, frightening four-minute heist, which will be the subject of a segment on the television show "America's Most Wanted" in February. When a reporter visited the store last week to conduct interviews, a film crew from the crime show was setting up its equipment.

Employees also revealed several new details, such as the fact that a witness followed the robbers' van up Interstate 95 at about 100 mph in a Mercedes sedan, speaking to a 911 operator much of the way, only to stop the pursuit north of Chester when the bandits opened the rear door and pointed a gun at his car.

Stein theorized that the ruby would have little value on the black market because it is so identifiable and few people would be interested in purchasing a non-gem ruby that cannot be worn. He speculated that the robbers probably sold it for $10,000 just for the diamonds.

The jeweler also thinks that a November 2010 News Journal article about the Liberty Bell Ruby might have spurred the crime. Stein had hoped the story about the ruby would generate interest and attract a buyer.

But Stein said an investigator told him an inmate had told authorities he knew that some people were discussing a hit on the store to get the gem, which the newspaper story said was kept in the vault. Though the bandits didn't ask for the ruby in particular, they demanded access to the vault.

"We were trying to trump up, publicize this as much as possible,'' Stein said, "and it cost me a robbery."

The theft

At about 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 1, a man appeared at the door to the store and the receptionist, only glancing up at his face, hit the buzzer to unlock it -- the normal security procedure for the store with millions of dollars worth of inventory on display. Once inside, the man waved a gun and the receptionist yelled while the bandit held the door open for three other men who burst inside.

The men raced around the store, found four employees inside, and bound them with plastic zip-tie handcuffs, forcing them to lie face down on the floor. They dashed to the display cases holding high-value jewels, smashing the glass and scooping out necklaces, earrings, rings and other pieces made of diamonds, platinum, gold, sapphires, emeralds and rubies. They didn't touch the less expensive silver, pearl or other semi-precious stones, such as blue topaz or aquamarine, said office manager Jamie Stein, one of the four employees who were tied up.

Stein recalled that, while lying on the ground, she thought to herself, "Please don't shoot anybody. Get what you are getting and leave with everybody alive."

Dan McGrath, the store's gold buyer, who also was bound, said the robbery "happened so fast I didn't have time to get nervous about it."

After clearing out the cases, the robbers forced Stein's son, Edward, to let them into the vault, where they took the box holding the ruby as well as other pieces, including an opal and several loose stones.

Jim Stein, who was in the back of the store, said he ran outside to call police, and after waiting a few minutes, ran back inside, only to be chased outside by the fleeing bandits. He saw them escape in the $19.99-a-day rental truck.

The ruby was created in 1976 for Beverly Hills-based Kazanjian Brothers jewelry company by sculptor Alfonso de Vivanco for the U.S. bicentennial. It was made in the same spirit as sapphire busts of presidents that the jeweler's charitable foundation presented to the White House when Dwight D. Eisenhower was president.

The ruby sculpture, however, went unsold, so two years ago, the jeweler partnered with Stein, who had been negotiating with potential buyers who would donate the sculpture to the National Liberty Museum just blocks from the real Liberty Bell at Philadelphia's Independence Hall.

The Wilmington jeweler said the Kazanjians are immigrants from Armenia who have become philanthropists and "very patriotic people who wanted to give back to America, which gave them an opportunity when they came here."

Michael Kazanjian, the store's owner, did not return calls for this story, but Stein said they are distraught about the loss.

Gwen Borowsky, chief executive at the museum, said she did not know about the ruby's theft until last week, when a reporter notified her.

"It's such a shame," she said.

Stolen Art Watch, Greek Picasso Stolen In Athens Museum Heist

2012-01-09T11:13:00.007Z

A painting by Picasso was one of the two paintings stolen from the National Gallery in Athens in central Athens at dawn on Monday during a break-in, according to the Museum, while the second painting was also of immense value.

The Picasso is a 1934 work that was presented as a gift to the Gallery in the 1940s by a French association.

Two paintings were stolen from the National Art Gallery in Athens in the pre-dawn hours on Monday, during a break-in, and a police investigation was immediately launched.

Police said that the Gallery's alarm went off at 4:52 a.m. and the security guard, who was inside the building and had not been aware of anything suspicious up to that time, saw a man running out of the building.amna

The guard immediately investigated the facilities and saw that two paintings were missing, and alerted police.

An exhibition of masters was currently taking place at the Gallery, which closed to the public on Monday for restoration work.

According to a police announcement later, one of the stolen paintings was a 1934 Picasso.

Police said the perpetrator(s) entered the building from the back side, breaking in through a mezzanine balcony door that he/they demolished, headed into the interior of the building and removed the two paintings from their frames.amna

Police said the perpetrator(s) attempted to steal a third painting, but abandoned the effort.

Police have taken footage from the museum's surveillance cameras for investigation.

Statements were expected by police and by the Museum's director Myrsini Lambraki-Plaka in the early afternoon.

Update:

ATHENS — A Pablo Picasso painting gifted to Greece by the Spanish-born master was stolen from Athens' National Gallery early Monday with two other important artworks, prompting scorn from the Greek police minister.

"Woman's Head", a 1939 oil on canvas, had been given by Picasso to the Greek state in 1949 in recognition of the country's resistance to Nazi Germany, the police said in a statement.

The back of the painting reads in French "for the Greek people, a tribute by Picasso" according to a photograph released by police.

"Mill", a 1905 oil painting of a windmill by Dutch abstract artist Piet Mondrian was also stolen, along with a sketch of St Diego de Alcala by 16th century Italian artist Guglielmo Caccia, better known as Moncalvo, the police said.

"I am very sorry because an artwork of huge value was stolen," Citizen's Protection Minister Christos Papoutsis told reporters, referring to the Picasso.

Papoutsis termed the gallery's security arrangements "non-existent" and noted that a private security company hired to supplement the building's sole guard "took hours" to respond to the break-in.

"This incident should prompt a re-evaluation of the National Gallery's security arrangements," Papoutsis said.

The authorities did not specify the value of the artworks stolen, but Skai television said they were worth about 5.5 million euros ($7 million).

Authorities said the thief, or thieves, had knocked out the alarm system and forced open a balcony door at the back of the building, which is located across from one of Athens' top hotels.

The gallery was on reduced security staffing owing to a three-day strike.

The sole guard told police that a burglar alarm went off shortly before 5:00 am and that he saw the silhouette of a person running from the building.

He told police that he ran after the thief, who dropped another Mondrian oil painting, "Landscape", depicting a farmhouse and painted around 1905, according to the gallery's website.

The break-in lasted only around seven minutes.

The police added that the guard had been distracted earlier in the evening by alarms that were triggered at various entry points, but when he went to investigate he found no one in the gallery.

"I don't know if we can say it was an inside job, but they were certainly professionals," police spokesman Thanassis Kokkalakis told AFP.

"They provoked false alarms to gauge the guard's response time," he said.

The police said the theft occurred on the final day of an exhibition titled "Unknown Treasures" that included prints and etchings by Duerer and Rembrandt.

The gallery in the centre of the Greek capital planned to close its doors following the exhibition for expansion and renovation work.

It has a vast permanent collection of post-Byzantine Greek art, as well as a small collection of Renaissance works and some El Greco paintings.

Stolen Art Watch, New Year Around The World Of Stolen Art

2012-01-08T13:32:00.006Z

A new breed of burglar is on the job In Bhutan

They’re better dressed and operate during daylight hours
A woman in Motithang was babysitting her grandchildren, when a man came by and asked where the gas cylinders were. He told the woman that her son, who was at office, had asked him to change the cylinders.

When her son returned home in the evening, they realised they had been robbed off their gas cylinders.

Residents of a building in Babesa saw a well-dressed man, with a clean pair of lageys, enter the building and leave a few hours later. He had robbed one apartment of its jewelry and antiques worth Nu 400,000. “Everyone thought that he was a guest of the tenant,” the building owner said.

With more than 350 reported larceny and burglary cases in Thimphu city, theft was one of the most common crimes in 2011.

Records with the Thimphu police show that more theft cases occur during the daytime than at night. This, police officials say, is because of the increased intensity of their night patrolling.

Although Thimphu city stretches from Babesa to Dechencholing, it’s the main town, especially in Chubachu, Hongkong market and vegetable market area that are more prone to theft cases.

But residents say that burglars today operate in groups, dress smartly and drive posh vehicles. “It’s difficult to make them out,” a resident, Nima, said.

Burglars nabbed by police said they used iron rods to break into houses. “Most of the offenders say they put the rod inside and pulled the door,” a police officer said.

Auto stripping was another common case Thimphu police dealt in the past year. About 124 vehicles were stripped off parts.

Lack of proper parking and irresponsibility, police said, led to auto stripping. “People don’t bother to take their things, but leave it in the vehicle, which tempt people to break into the car,” an officer said.

But the women and child protection unit recorded maximum number of battery cases. In 2011 alone, 321 battery cases were reported. Alcohol and domestic violence were the main cause for battery. Most of the offenders, record shows, are youth aged between 18 and 25.

Lack of proper source of income, insufficient money and proper guidance led youth to commit such acts.

“Cooperation from the public can reduce the crime,” an officer said. “Most of it happens because people are careless and irresponsible.”

Turkey: Istanbul a Hub for Islamic Art Theft

http://www.eurasianet.org/node/64800

Under the elegant, soaring arches of Istanbul’s newly restored, 16th century Süleymaniye Mosque, dozens of security cameras keep an eye on visitors’ every move. Vigilant security guards patrol indoors and out. Turkey, police say, is becoming the epicenter of an international market for stolen Islamic art, and Turkish mosques and museums alike are on high alert.

That means the responsibilities of the imam at Süleymaniye Mosque, widely considered the city’s most magnificent, now include not only looking after the people's faith, but, increasingly, the valuable contents of the mosque itself.

"We are more comfortable with the presence of the security guards. We feel this place is secure," said Imam Ayhan Mansiz. "Thank God, we didn't experience any theft. Our mosque is safe. The restoration has just been completed and everything is listed and categorized, and the most valuable items are now in museums."

The tight security provisions are all part of the Turkish state's battle against the growing scourge of thefts of Islamic art from Turkish mosques and museums. Be it historic Korans, intricate wall tiles or even wooden paneling, all items are potential candidates for theft, an unwelcome by-product of an international boom in demand for Islamic art. There are no official figures for losses, but anecdotal evidence suggests they are significant.

"The overall turnover in the market has risen hugely," commented William Robinson, director of the Islamic Art and Carpet Departments at the London-based auction house, Christie’s. Robinson traces the heightened interest in Islamic art back to 1997, “when Qatar entered the market.”

In the years since, “the overall trend has been very strongly upward, particularly in the last two or three years,” he continued. “I think it could be even a 30 or 40-percent-a-year increase, which is huge.”

Such activity has not gone unnoticed by organized crime. Turkish officials claim that Istanbul is now a regional hub for stolen Islamic art, with the city’s famed Grand Bazaar the epicenter for the trade.

Deep within the Bazaar’s labyrinth of streets and alleyways, packed with vendors selling fake Gucci bags and cheap T-shirts, are people who can find, for the right price, prized Islamic artifacts -- as long as there are no questions asked about where and how the items are secured, said one Turkish police detective.

"You have gangs of three or four people stealing from museums or mosques and they bring the artifacts to the Grand Bazaar, where there are dealers who have contacts in Europe,” said detective Ismail Sahin, who, until 2011, headed the Istanbul Police’s department for ancient stolen artifacts. “The Bazaar also deals with stolen artifacts from across the region."

Sahin, who holds a master’s degree in archaeology, has led many successful raids on the Bazaar. That experience, along with his retrieval of numerous stolen artifacts, helped him outline how Turkey fits into the international trade in stolen Islamic art.

"In many cases, specific orders come from Europe. Sometimes the [Bazaar] middle-men will get an order from Europe for a specific item, and they will then commission a gang to steal it,” he continued. “It is very difficult for us, as most mosques and even some museums don’t even have inventories or proper protection."

Despite Sahin's zeal for his work, he was reassigned last year to an Istanbul suburb to solve mundane local crimes. “Maybe one too many raids on the Bazaar,” he speculated. “There are many powerful people operating there.”

Security forces are claiming increased success in tracking down artifacts being smuggled out of the country. In 2010, official records show that 68,000 historical artifacts were recovered from nearly 5,000 people. Those convicted of theft is such cases could face up to 20-year prison terms.

But the museums and foundations responsible for the protection of Turkey’s cultural heritage also are mobilizing to stop the thefts of Islamic art. Last May, the first international meeting in Istanbul on illegal trafficking in historical artifacts brought art experts, police and auction houses together to discuss ways to tackle the problem.

Despite repeated attempts to speak to a representative of Turkish museums responsible for combating thefts, all requests were rejected. No reason was given.

Joachim Gierlich, former curator of the Qatar Islamic Art Museum, looks to social networking, computer technologies and old-fashioned human cooperation to curb the trade. "I believe one can only win the fight if one uses modern technologies, having a very good and complete documentation to know what actually is in the museums and what is in the foundations and so on, and make this accessible,” Gierlich said. “If there is extensive use of [a] database, put it to the extreme and place it even on Facebook."

International auction houses, too, are becoming increasingly concerned, "It's a very serious issue because it's completely against our interests for illegal things to appear on the market, let alone with us. Because it knocks the whole market," said Robinson of Christie’s.

Yet despite the growing recognition of the problem, an ostrich mentality does appear to persist among some governments. Robinson recounted one instance when “for reasons of national pride,” the an ambassador denied to him that a major theft of Islamic art had occurred in the envoy’s home nation, even though Robinson already had confirmation elsewhere about the incident. “That attitude is never going to be helpful in the long term," Robinson warned.

Back at the Süleymanie mosque, the faithful express awareness of the problem and its magnitude. "This is the reality of life in Istanbul. Today people even steal your shoes from a mosque,” one worshipper, a 40-year-old shopkeeper, commented angrily. “There are many desperate people in the city, who will do anything, however evil, for money. But they will get their punishment in this life or the next."

Man admits drunken theft of valuable oil painting in Cheltenham

A VALUABLE oil painting stolen from a Cheltenham gallery has been found after the man who took it admitted the theft, saying he was drunk at the time.

The piece was taken between midnight and 3.25am on New Year's Day when the window was smashed at James Fine Art in Prestbury Road.

The signed painting, pictured, of a bottle of wine with two glasses is by Peter Kokta and is valued at around £3,900.

Yesterday, Gloucestershire police said officers had recovered the painting and arrested a 24-year-old man on suspicion of burglary after he called the police having seen an appeal for information.

A police spokesman said: "He made a full admission to the crime, stating he had been intoxicated at the time of the offence and had no previous convictions. Police are now able to return the item to its rightful owners.

"The man was therefore eligible to receive a formal caution, which was issued for non-dwelling burglary."

Yesterday, owner of the gallery, Ric James, said he was relieved. He added: "I'm not sure what state it is in at the moment because it hasn't been returned to me. I thought it was probably highly unlikely that I would see it again. It was in the lap of the gods."

Antique lectern found after theft in August

A BRASS lectern stolen from a village church near Swindon has been spotted at an antiques fair in Romania.

The 4ft eagle-shaped lectern was stolen from the Holy Cross Church, in Ashton Keynes, in August and churchgoers feared it would be melted down for scrap.

But the precious artefact has since been found by a man in a Romanian village who saw a plaque engraved with the name of the church.

He later contacted Wiltshire Police after an internet search revealed the lectern, understood to be worth more than £1,500, had been stolen.

PC Steve Harvey, who received the email, said he was hopeful the item could be returned and agents from Interpol were investigating.

“A few days after it was stolen we received this email, which we thought was a spoof. But it had a mobile number on it so I called the person,” he said.

“He didn't speak very good English, but he had good written English and so we spoke over email. He said he’d seen this unusual piece in a village in Romania and when he looked at it he noticed the Ashton Keynes engraving.

“He searched the internet for some sort of news report and eventually ended up emailing me. I got hold of Interpol and some local Romanian officers went to visit the man.

“He didn’t buy the lectern but most people at the antiques fair are regulars, so they will be making enquiries with the organisers. I’m hopeful of getting it back.

“It is a totally bizarre chain of events.”

Church warden David Clover said parishioners thought they would never see the antique again.

“I don’t know how long it had been there but it was certainly a long time. We didn’t even notice at first because it was in the mind’s eye,” he said.

“We did think it was gone – the eagle had flown, never to be seen again. We only found out through the parish council that the police had discovered a sighting of it in Romania.

“The nice thing is that someone very vigilant and with the use of the internet realised something was not as it should be.

“From an early age I was led to believe Interpol was the pinnacle of policing throughout Europe, more associated with organised crime.

“But parishioners will be pleased to know they are investigating and that it is still out there. It is part of the heritage of the church and we would like it back.”

Police release images of York antique theft suspects

http://www.northyorkshire.police.uk/index.aspx?articleid=7996

Police in York have released images of two men they would like to trace following the theft of antiques.

They were caught on camera in the antique shop at about 1.20pm on Saturday 12 November 2011. The men are suspected of forcing open a display case before stealing its contents.

The stolen property includes a 12in silver shell tray, five sets of silver sugar tongs, a rectangular Georgian silver tray, a 0.33 carat diamond ring and two diamond ring each with three stones.

PC Hazel Simms, of York Safer Neighbourhood Team, said: "I would like to speak to anyone who either recognises the men featured in the images or has been offered any property matching the description of the stolen items.

"If you can help with this investigation I ask that you contact the police or Crimestoppers as soon as possible."

Anyone who can help the police with this enquiry is asked to contact Sergeant Martin Metcalfe of York Police on 101. Press option 2 and ask for Martin Metcalfe by name.

Theft of paintings puzzles store owner

http://www.langleytimes.com/news/136677138.html

Whoever stole the five paintings from Country Lane Antiques in Fort Langley had to be a small person to squeeze through the narrow window they used to gain access to the business at 9179 Glover Road, owner Shirley Rempel said.

“There’s not a lot of of room,” Rempel told The Times.

The theft took place some time between Sunday night (Jan. 1) and Monday morning.

Someone smashed in a window to gain entry and fled before police could arrive.

It was the first break-in at the Fort Langley store in the six years its been operating.

What puzzles Rempel is the thief ignored other easy-to-sell items in the store and went straight to the wall where three Al Colton paintings were hanging.

The diminutive thief also stole a painting by Jack Turpin and a limited-edition Alan Wylie, one of 25 prints.

Each measured about 24 by 20 inches.

The original works of art will not be easy to dispose of, because any buyer willing to pay the proper price of about $700 per will almost certainly know they were stolen.

The Colton paintings have his distinctive West Coast style.

The Wylie is called “Let it Snow” and features a little boy all bundled up, standing at the back of a caboose.

The Turpin shows an aging shed with a moss-covered roof illuminated by the sun.

Anyone with information about this robbery is asked to call Langley RCMP at 604-532-3200 or, if you need to to remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).

Stolen $80,000 cello returned to owner Kirsty Hunt after roadside theft

by: Shannon Deery
From: Herald Sun
January 02, 2012 9:47AM

Rosy Hunt with her $80,000 cello which was returned after she posted a $4000 reward. Picture: Chris Scott Source: Herald Sun

AN irreplaceable antique cello, stolen from its owner more than three months ago, has been recovered.

Renowned Melbourne cellist Rosy Hunt embarked on a tireless campaign to find the rare French family heirloom after it was taken just minutes before she was due to set off for a performance in September.

Ms Hunt had rested the $80,000 instrument on a nature strip in North Caulfield while she buckled her young daughter into the car when it was taken by a passing motorist.

"I turned around for less than 30 seconds and then it was gone," Ms Hunt said.

"The moment it was stolen, there was just this sort of gut-wrenching panic.

"It's heart wrenching when you lose your beautiful tool of trade ... it's not like a power drill, it has a soul."

Ms Hunt's mother, also a professional cellist, bought the prized possession while she was studying in Paris in the 1950s - and has remained in the family ever since.

On her return to Melbourne, she taught her three daughters to play the instrument and handed it down to Ms Hunt, who has played the cello in the grandest concert halls around the world.

"It has performed with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, has toured internationally and has been used in some competition winning peformances," she said.

"It's a very special piece."

With the help of family, friends and a collective of classical musicians throughout Melbourne, Ms Hunt launched her own bid to track down the cello.

Ms Hunt said she spoke to "almost every" second-hand dealer and instrument maker in the state, hunted for it on eBay, distributed flyers throughout the city and Geelong, tapped into social media and created her own website.

She said she worked into the early hours every morning and wouldn't rest until she got the instrument home.

"My adrenaline kept me going ... I just wanted it back," she said.

The cello was returned this week after Ms Hunt boosted a reward offer to $4000.

"It was in Bendigo, of all places," she said.

It is believed the person who took the instrument had kept it and then arranged for its return when the reward was increased.

"The important thing is it's back, and it came back in perfect condition," Ms Hunt said. "I'm not going to take my eye off the cello any more."

deerys@heraldsun.com.au

Antique treasures found at Coast Rockhampton

http://www.themorningbulletin.com.au/story/2012/01/05/curious-haul-of-antiques-turns-up-in-police-search/

January 8, 2012

Some of the items police believe were stolen from Capricorn Coast homes.

Nikita Watts

A THIEF with a taste for antiques.

This is what police may have uncovered when they searched a Yeppoon house yesterday and found a number of odd items and collectables they allege were stolen from homes on the Capricorn Coast in the past few months.

A man was arrested yesterday in relation to another matter, however, when police searched his home, they had to carefully move delicate items believed to have been stolen property.

From marble chess boards and expensive silverware, to a China soup tureen, large lamps and antique dolls; the line-up of items looked more like an antique sale than criminal evidence.

Plainclothes Constable Dorinda Bice said it was an unusual case.

And now the difficult part for her and the CIB team is identifying the owners.

They want people to come forward if they recognise any of these pieces; which includes large, clustered rings, a hard-drive, tools, a projector, tyres, bullets, and a clock and sports memorabilia.

Charged: Sean McNab faces a prison sentence after he tried to sell a bag full of stolen bronze memorial plaques

A scrap metal dealer was branded ‘beyond contempt’ after trying to sell bronze plaques ripped from a cemetery memorial garden.

Horrified relatives discovered the memorials were stolen when they turned up at the cemetery to lay flowers for their loved ones.

But Sean McNab’s attempts to profit from the theft were thwarted when diligent staff at a scrapyard refused to buy them and alerted police.

The crime follows a dramatic increase in metal thefts across the country which has seen thieves targeting war memorials, railway lines, street signs and manhole covers.

McNab, 44, is facing jail after he admitted handling ten memorial plaques stolen from the Garden of Remembrance at Blackley Cemetery, Manchester, in November.

The plaques were paid for by families to remember those who have been cremated at the cemetery to mark the spot where their ashes have been buried.

The financial worth was put at £600, but Bernard Begley, prosecuting, told Manchester Magistrates’ Court: ‘The actual value of the plaques, in terms of sentimental value, is far greater than their worth.’

After the theft, police visited Howarth Metals in Blackley, Manchester where staff said they recalled McNab trying to sell the plaques two days earlier.

The court heard CCTV cameras were checked and McNab was seen to ‘come and go’ in a car.

Nine of the plaques have now been recovered, but one is missing.

The court was told that McNab has offered to compensate the family who own the outstanding plaque.

Suzanne Saverimuttu, defending, said he claimed he was offered a bag containing the plaques by two youths and agreed to buy it without looking inside.

Memorable: The plaques which were stolen have now been recovered after diligent staff refused to buy them and told police

She said that once he realised what the metal was and the scrapyard refused to buy it, he threw the bag away.

Miss Saverimuttu said: ‘He is very ashamed about what he has done.

‘He is concerned about the fact that these are memorial plaques that were taken. He wants the court to know that.’

McNab was initially accused of theft but denied the charge and pleaded guilty to an alternative charge of handling stolen goods on the day his theft trial was due to begin.

Barbara Amuzu, chairman of the Bench, said: ‘This is a very serious matter. It is so serious that custody cannot be ruled out.’

McNab was bailed to be sentenced on January 16.

MORE METAL MISERY

Police are appealing for witnesses after thieves stole a limited- edition bronze statue worth more than £5,000 from a gallery.

The piece, called Dancers Stretching, above, is one of 50 made by Tom Greenshields, a well-known sculptor.

Police are now appealing for information about the theft of the statue, which is believed to have happened between December 21 and Christmas Eve.

Pc James Wood, from West Mercia Police, said: 'The statue is made by Tom Greenshields and is a limited-edition piece of art valued at over £5,000.

'It is in an unusual item and I would appeal to anyone who has been offered it, or has seen it advertised for sale anywhere, to get in touch.'

Anyone with information about this incident is urged to contact the police on 0300 333 3000 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

At the time of the theft police described the incident as ‘deplorable’ and said it was ‘beyond contempt’ to desecrate a person’s memory by stealing their memorial plaque.

Police estimate the rise in metal thefts, which is fuelled by rising prices for copper, lead and bronze is costing the economy more than £700million a year.

Yesterday it emerged that thugs smashed a painting of Christ and a war memorial and stole 18th century silver candlesticks and plates after storming a church.

The intruders struck at St Mary the Virgin Church in Ilford, Essex, between Boxing Day evening and December 28.

Father Gareth Jones ended his festive holiday to assess the damage when a churchwarden gave him the grim news.

He said: ‘We are insured, but these items are irreplaceable.

‘The 18th century plates and candlesticks were given to the church when it opened in 1831.

‘All we can do is find out if replicas can be made.’

The destroyed painting of Christ had just been donated to the church by a parishioner.

The marble and wood memorial honouring the fallen heroes of the First and Second World Wars was ripped off the wall and shattered.

The Wildenstein scandal Crystal screen, Liuba reveals a secret arrangement

http://www.purepeople.com/article/Le-scandale-Wildenstein-creve-l-Ecran-liouba-revele-UN-arrangement-secret_a93893/1

January 5, 2012

Bwhile that case Bettencourt adds a few chapters to his saga between the kicks of the octogenarian milliardairecontre his guardianship and the passage behind the locks of François-Marie Banier and his companion, the Wildenstein, another tax and judicial scandal indeterminate matter, back in the news. Better, it pops the screen, literally.

France 3 will be in effect, this Wednesday, January 4 at 23: 05, a number of parts magazine exhibits dedicated to the life and times of the most famous French dynasty of art dealers: the incredible treasure hidden in the Wildenstein. The title of the report, signed by journalist Magali greenhouse at the price of a work of investigation for three years, is explicitly reference to recent events in date, including the discovery last January about 30 works of art reported missing or stolen in the fief of the family in the heart of Paris, rue de la Boétie. And its dissemination, by "serendipitous", coincides with the revelation that day by the magazine of new elements - a "secret pact" - support for Guy Wildenstein (see below), already the subject of an indictment.

A succession of problems...

Real empire that takes root at the end of the 19th century, in the Gallery Paris of his grandfather Nathan perpetuated by his father Georges, transformed into a showcase of the world of art by fire Daniel Wildenstein, charismatic collector, the Wildenstein institution is in full wandering since the death of his captain in 2001.

His death, Daniel Wildenstein bequeathed his activity and his heritage to his son, Alec (died in 2008) and Guy, which crowd out the last wife of their father, Sylvia Roth-Wildenstein, of the estate, making just that her husband was ruined for its part the signing of a cessation to the legacy. Become suspicious over time, Sylvia Roth had materialized its presumptions in legal action. "It has betrayed me, on me was stolen, it has taken me!" Was just my husband dead that my sons-in-law made me believe that he was broke, I was going to be prosecuted by the tax authorities. I've been to sign papers that I renounce the inheritance, it took me my horses [today to care coach Jean-Paul Gallorini, Editor's note]... ", then proclaimed." Caught in November 2010 in cancer, his action has however not been vain, since its suites play today, and that his counsel Mr. Claude Deumont-Beghi does not loose case Guy Wildenstein, Member of the first circle of donors of the UMP and decorated with the Legion of honour in 2009, in instruction review. "Because the complaints that Sylvia Roth had had time to file before starting, for"abuse of confidence","active and passive bribery","trafficking of influence","money laundering", fraudulent insolvency organization", "forgery and use of forgeries", heard by the judges of the TGI of Paris Guillaume Daieff and Serge Tournaire, had result update questionable practices, information including the presumptions of tax evasion through the existence of trusts in tax havens, and the discovery of an incredible treasure of war, a cave of Ali Baba.

A search - the second in three months - in January 2011 by the police of the police of the OCBC on judge Yves Dando had thus revealed in the premises of the Wildenstein Institute, at 57 rue de la Boétie, "packed from floor to ceiling, hundreds of paintings and sculptures", including "30 reported missing or stolen works"", that were immediately seized by investigators". Among them, found in the trunk of Guy Wildenstein, oil of Impressionist Berthe Morisot, assessed at EUR 800 000: cottage in Normandy. She had disappeared in succession in 1993 Anne-Marie Rouart and Yves Rouart, his descendant, suspected a tower of fraudulent sleight of the executors appointed by his aunt: Olivier Daulte and Guy Wildenstein. His complaint against X for possession of stolen property was soon joined by others, and Guy Wildenstein was indicted for receiving of breach of trust... The statement follows its course.

An explosive document revealed by "the other widow", Liuba

And a new piece has to be paid to the record, a priori that compromising also unexpected. Liuba, "young and beautiful widow" Alec Wildenstein, in the words of lepoint.fr, reveals a secret pact less questionable... The former girlfriend of the deceased eldest son of Daniel Wildenstein, which has always supported Sylvia Roth in his battle against the son of the late husband, had thrown a keypad in the pool early in the year, stating investigators: "since the beginning, the"

Stolen Art Watch Magritte Recovery, Fact Or Fiction ?

2012-01-06T15:23:00.009Z

Farcical Return of Magritte Olympia

Thieves hand back £2.75 million Magritte painting stolen at gunpoint two years ago... after it fails to sell on black market

A valuable painting that was stolen at gunpoint from a Brussels museum two years ago has been handed back - after the thieves failed to sell it on the black market.

A daring daylight raid on Belgian surrealist René Magritte's former terraced house saw armed robbers put a gun to the concierge's head in September 2009.

They threatened staff and visitors, before making off with the £2.75 million nude portrait Olympia.

But this week they contacted art expert Janpiet Callens to hand back the piece, which depicts the artist's wife Georgette, which no-one would buy.

It means the 1948 painting can now be returned to the tiny gallery, in the north-east suburb of Jette, which is open as a museum by appointment only.

On the day of the theft, the venue had only been open for 10 minutes when a man rang the doorbell asking if visiting hours had started.

He put a gun to the concierge's temple and ushered his accomplice inside.

The two men, who were not masked, rounded up the museum staff and visitors - including a Japanese couple - and made them kneel in the courtyard.

No one was hurt and the pair left carrying the 60cm by 80cm painting and got into a car.

An alarm sounded when they smashed the glass, but by the time the police arrived, the thieves, who spoke English and French, had made their getaway.

Magritte lived with his wife for more than 20 years in the house and painted some of his most famous works there.

The house, which is distinct from the Magritte museum, also became a meeting point for other surrealists in the Belgian capital.

Art Hostage Comments:

Surreal Recovery of Surreal Magritte Olympia.

Word on the street, The 1948 painting "Olympia" by René Magritte was handed back in excellent condition after, a $100,000 ransom was paid by the picture's insurer.

Stolen Art Watch, Magritte Olympia Recovered

2012-01-05T20:03:00.005Z

Thieves bring back stolen painting Magritte: unsaleable

Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 6:47 p.m.

Thieves on a very reckless way a painting by Magritte had robbed, have brought the work back because they were not sold. Too famous.

René Magritte, Olympia

The painting "Olympia" of the Belgian surrealist Rene Magritte is returned because the thieves were able to work not realizing. This has janpiet Callens, arts business consultant, said.

On Thursday, September 24, 2009 the work was stolen by unknown persons from the former home of the painter, the Esseghemstraat in Jette. The house, after the death of the painter was transformed into a museum, got the visit of two thieves who were only interested in that one oil painting. They threatened staff with a weapon, took the work of 60 to 80 inches along with the car and left.

Rather than return to destroy

The theft was well received. Perhaps that is why the work was never sold: it was too familiar. "I was contacted by someone who wanted to return the painting," explains Callens out. "The work was unsaleable. And then they wanted rather than returning it to have it destroyed," it sounds.

"Two weeks ago, I was able to return the painting to the federal judicial police in Brussels, which has performed at a crime scene. Meanwhile, the work returned to the owner."

Nothing is known about the thieves. Callens suspects that the person who contacted them with the facts, nothing to do with it. Magritte painted "Olympia" in 1948 in his house in Esseghemstraat, between 1930 and 1954 half of his works saw the daylight.

Naked woman with a shell

The work, which a naked woman with a shell suggests, was sold by an art dealer in New York, after which it disappeared into private collections. The oil painting was only in 1980 to the outside world is shown.

The curator of the Magritte in Jette house was in 2002 by a patron on the racks. The value of "Olympia" is at least 700,000 euros. (Reuters / EH / EE)

Thieves Magritte painting stolen bring back: unsaleable Thursday 05 January 2012 to 18u47 thieves who on a particularly reckless way a painting of Magritte had robbed, the work now brought back because they were not sold. To famous. /René Magritte, Olympia the painting "Olympia" of the Belgian surrealist René Magritte is returned because the thieves could not create the work realisation. That has Janpiet Callens, consultant in art Affairs, declared. On Thursday 24 september 2009, the work by unknowns stolen from the former home of the painter, in the Esseghemstraat in Jette. The House, which after the death of the painter was transformed into a museum, then gave up the visit of two thieves who were only interested in that one oil painting. They threatened the staff with a weapon, took the work of 60 to 80 inches and left by car. Reduce rather than destroy the theft received wide resonance. ...

Art Hostage Comments:

Word on the street, The 1948 painting "Olympia" by René Magritte was handed back in excellent condition after, a $100,000 ransom was paid by the picture's insurer.

Stolen Art Watch, Hot Art, Hot Art, Addicted To Hot Art !!

2012-01-05T17:36:00.004Z

Hot Art: Chasing Thieves And Detectives Through The Secret World Of Stolen Art

Artful crimes

By Susan G. Cole
http://www.nowtoronto.com/books/story.cfm?content=184567

Art is a valuable commodity – no surprise there. What’s astonishing is how much gets stolen and how little law enforcement agencies can do about it.

That’s because the art and antiques world is a shadowy one, full of fearless thieves and dealers, even creditable ones, who couldn’t care less whether the valuable works they’re selling represent ill-gotten gains.

Add to that the fact that police have a hard time getting resources for recovering works of art and prosecuting perpetrators – compared to, say, doing something about violent crime – and it’s no wonder art theft is a growth industry.

Toronto-based investigative journalist Joshua Knelman delves deeply into the phenomenon in his consistently interesting Hot Art. By interviewing police specialists, museum curators, dealers and some actual art thieves, Knelman makes surprising discoveries.

Among them: there are fewer than five police units specializing in stolen art in North America, and none of them has any idea what the others are doing. They have, however, used online resources to develop instruments – lists of stolen art, for example – that make tracking down thefts easier.

The value of art has increased exponentially, more in the past five years than in the 25 years before that. It’s estimated that the annual trade in stolen art is worth upwards of $4 billion. That can only grow, given that so many of these transactions are cash-based, which in turn makes art theft and sale an excellent means of laundering money.

Knelman writes about all this in lively prose, but, as is often the case with books rich in detail, Hot Art can get repetitive. He does like to hammer away at his themes.

Though he gets a little carried away when it comes to colourful descriptions of locations and characters, those characters are fascinating, especially obsessive LAPD officer Donald Hrycyk and Brighton, UK-based thief Paul, who tells all about his various misdeeds.

http://www.amazon.com/Hot-Art-Chasing-Thieves-Detectives/dp/1935639382/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325785372&sr=1-1

http://www.tinhouse.com/books/coming-soon/hot-art.html

http://www.dmpibooks.com/book/hot-art

Stolen Art Watch, Leonardo Da Vinci Madonna of the Yarnwinder Intoxicating As Ever !!

2011-12-31T08:17:00.002Z

Leonardo Da Vinci mystery still to be solved after trial let-down, says art expert

BRITAIN’S leading Leonardo da Vinci expert has spoken out over the “deeply unsatisfying” result of the trial of five men, arrested in the recovery of Scotland’s only painting by the artist three years after it was stolen.

Martin Kemp, a former University of St Andrews art historian with nearly 50 years’ work on Da Vinci behind him, was an expert witness in the two-month court case.

It ended last year with all five defendants cleared of an extortion plot to extract £4.25 million for the return the Madonna of the Yarnwinder.

“I thought it was deeply unsatisfactory. I’ve been involved in three major court cases as a witness,” he told The Scotsman. “My view is that the full story hasn’t come out. There is still a lot more to be unearthed.”

Mr Kemp has co-authored a new book about Da Vinci’s Madonna of the Yarnwinder, long owned by the family of the Duke of Buccleuch and a similar one owned by a New York collector.

In it he concludes the two paintings were worked on in Leonardo’s studio at the same time in about 1501 – though art critics have long argued over the two works, and which is better authenticated.

The Buccleuch Yarnwinder, showing Mary with the Christ child holding a winding stick for yarn, is a star exhibit in the exhibition, Leonardo da Vinci: Painter in the Court of Milan, at the National Gallery in London.

The once-in-a-lifetime show of Da Vinci works, which ends in early February, has brought huge crowds and reports of touts selling advance tickets for hundreds of pounds.

Yesterday, the duke told The Scotsman that he hopes the painting will return direct from London to go on show again at the National Gallery of Scotland. It went on display there in 2009 after its recovery.

“The London exhibition ends in February, my hope is that she will come almost immediately back to Edinburgh,” he said.

But the duke said he is also eager to see the picture hang again in Drumlanrig Castle in Dumfriesshire, from where two men armed with an axe stole it in a daylight raid in 2003.

It was almost a “point of honour” marking the huge effort by the Dumfries and Galloway Police to get the painting back, he said, but security was a major issue. “I’m very keen that she should be back there. At some point, during the summer opening season, next year,” he added.

“It’s an instinctive feeling, that whoever perpetuated the theft, and we don’t know who it was ultimately, shouldn’t so disrupt everything that the picture is never seen there again.”

Mr Kemp said he has had three queries a week recently from people who believe they have a Da Vinci, along with conspiracy theorists who think they have solved bizarre mysteries of the Mona Lisa or other works.

It was “part of the Leonardo insanity that has been escalating since the 19th-century”, he said. “He does attract a following and corresponding levels of lunacy,” he said. “I’m besieged on a daily basis by the Leonardo loonies.”

His book, Madonna of the Yarnwinder, a historical and scientific detective story, is the latest of several on the painter.

With the Buccleuch painting, Scotland is uniquely privileged in having a Da Vinci, he said, with only about 20 paintings accredited to him.

But it is becoming increasingly difficult to stage exhibitions, he said. “The difficulty now is to get the loans. There are things in the National Galleries exhibition that won’t travel again.”

Owners, are being asked to show works again and again, and he has seen drawings suffering from light exposure during his career, he said.

The Buccleuch Yarnwinder was described in the National Gallery’s exhibition catalogue as a work “devised and to a great extent executed by Leonardo” with help from other hands in his studio. Praised for its “warm, softly blurred colours and the strongly accented, beautiful controlled passages of light and shade”, it is thought to be worth £60 million.

The theft, the website and the sting, but no-one found guilty

LEONARDO Da Vinci’s 500-year-old Madonna of the Yarnwinder was stolen in a daring daylight robbery at Drumlanrig Castle in August 2003 by two men, one armed with an axe.

0 Comments
Art review: Leonardo Da Vinci - Painter at the Court of Milan

Outdoing the Louvre, even without the Mona Lisa, the National Gallery’s exhibition on Leonardo Da Vinci is comprehensive, well presented and insightful on an unquestionably great artist

0 Comments
Stolen masterpiece rivals the Mona Lisa

THEY knew what they wanted and that they had 15 minutes to get it. By the time the two men walked out with the £30 million masterpiece, they were one minute ahead of schedule.

0 Comments
Lawyer arrested as £37m stolen Madonna painting is found by police

IT IS considered one of Leonardo da Vinci's finest paintings and its theft from the Duke of Buccleuch's home in 2003 was one of the most audacious art crimes ever committed.

0 Comments
Stolen painting: lawyer among four charged with conspiracy to rob

ONE of Scotland's top insolvency lawyers appeared in court yesterday in connection with one of the biggest art heists of modern times - the theft of the Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece Madonna of the Yarnwinder from Drumlanrig Castle in August 2003.

0 Comments

Stolen Art Watch, Family Affair Under The Radar

2011-12-30T17:09:00.003Z

Father and son in court over hidden treasures

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10776005

Police raided a storage centre in Sydney this week and made a remarkable discovery: a treasure trove of cash, jewellery and antiques worth A$6.5 million ($8.5 million), allegedly stolen by a father and son targeting homes in affluent suburbs of two cities.

The pair - likened by one detective to Dad and Dave, characters in a classic Australian comedy - are suspected of breaking into more than 200 homes and properties, cracking safes and covering their tracks so carefully that some victims had no idea they had been burgled.

Christopher See, 56, and Phillip See, 33, were arrested in Sydney this month after a detective spotted them at Melbourne's airport shortly before the final crime of their alleged seven-year spree, the theft of cash and valuables from security deposit boxes in a city storage facility.

According to the Herald-Sun, the two men - who were charged with that break-in in a Melbourne court this week - were "cat burglars" who could scale high buildings. They led quiet lives - the father lived with his aged mother while the son stayed in a cheap boarding-house - and did not associate with known criminals or splash their alleged wealth around.

The stash uncovered at the Sydney storage centre included A$4 million in cash, a large quantity of foreign currency, 120kg of silver bullion and thousands of pieces of jewellery, as well as antiques, heirlooms, precious stones, five handguns, ammunition, false identification documents and a World War I Victoria Cross.

The Acting Assistant Commissioner of NSW Police, Mal Lanyon, said the burglaries - many of them targeting homes on Sydney's leafy north shore - involved tactics so sophisticated that some victims had been unaware they had been robbed until their valuables were returned.

"They are using a method that if you were the first to walk into a room, you wouldn't realise that a break and enter had happened," he said. "We believe there may be a number of owners of both commercial and residential premises who are unaware that their safes have been tampered with ... They certainly have been prolific, the persons responsible."

Police found nearly A$40,000 of cash and valuables at the house Christopher See shared with his mother in the wealthy Sydney suburb of Bellevue Hill, the Herald Sun reported. Bellevue Hill is home to James Packer, of the publishing and gambling empire, and Lachlan Murdoch, Rupert's eldest son.

Police intercepted mobile phone conversations by the Sees during their alleged robbery of the safety deposit boxes. They allegedly bought specialist power tools enabling them to break into the strongroom.

After being arrested on December 19, the men were extradited to Victoria, where they were wanted on outstanding warrants. They have been remanded in custody until March 19.

One police source told the Herald Sun: "They don't gamble or take drugs. The dad lives with his old mother and drives a cab part-time, and the son lives in the cheapest boarding house you could find."

Backstory:

IT is not unknown in policing circles for a stroke of good luck to be claimed as "good detective work".

But not in this case.

The arrest of two men alleged to be the most prolific burglars Victoria has ever seen - or not seen - had little to do with luck and everything to do with long, dogged detective work.

It also seems to have been a case of interstate police co-operation - something that can't be taken for granted.

When "the double-storey house burglars" first appeared on Page 1 of the Herald Sun on October 11, 2005, they had been credited with at least 140 burglaries in Melbourne suburbs from Keilor to Doncaster.

They stole only cash and jewellery, mostly from big two-storey homes.

Their haul was then believed to be more than $4 million.

They often disabled alarm systems, sometimes raiding two homes a night.

One burglar was agile enough to scale walls to upstairs rooms.

By the time Melbourne's "Spider Man" burglar was finally unveiled in the Herald Sun on April 23 this year, the tally of stolen cash and jewellery was estimated to have reached $15 million.

By then the thieves were believed to have broken into more than 400 homes of Melbourne's affluent.

The targets had spread to include Kew, Balwyn, Camberwell and Brighton, but the signature was the same.

Walls and drainpipes were scaled, alarm systems and CCTV cameras disabled, and safes opened in bedrooms while families were asleep nearby or eating.

On February 15, in the back yard of a house in Kew, detectives finally got their stroke of good fortune: a burglar was fleetingly caught by a security camera.

Two months later, detectives had been unable to identify him and so they went public.

But wide publicity drew little public response, which confirmed the suspicion of some detectives that they were looking for an interstate "fly-in" team.

The publicity extended to Sydney, where police believed the Melbourne burglars' methods were similar to those of a successful team in wealthy Sydney suburbs.

Even more significantly, the NSW detectives had a name - "an outside, maybe chance", they told their Boroondara colleagues who had worked almost full time on it for eight months.

Details of what had been known at Boroondara as "Operation Trapeze" were kept close to police chests yesterday. But the key development was the all-night raid on an Ivanhoe storage centre this month.

Until then, detectives told the Herald Sun, Spider Man had "stopped cold in Melbourne from the day the article was published at Easter".

The Ivanhoe job made them feel they were closing in.

The next stop was another trip to Sydney - this time with an extradition warrant.

"It was a long haul and a lot of hard work," said one detective yesterday.

"But it's a great pinch."

Stolen Art Watch, From Russia With Lust

2011-12-29T14:55:00.004Z

The Road by Isaak Levitan tracked down by Interpol

Russian art wanted by Interpol

Russian art rakes in millions at auctions the world over, but items can turn out to be illegally exported or stolen. Right now, Interpol is searching for nearly a thousand rare objects of art that have gone missing in Russia in the last two decades.

Moscow hopes to track down the lost treasures with the help of the world’s largest international police organization, Interpol.

In the past two decades, 250 works have been returned to Russia, including sought-after canvases by leading landscape artist Isaak Levitan, Russia’s deputy Interior Minister says.

Historical artifacts such as official decrees signed by Catherine the Great and Tsars Nicholas I and Nicholas II, stolen from the Russian State Archive, are also among the key relics recently brought home.

Interpol has a system for circulating information in the form of a database accessible not only to law enforcement agencies, but also to members of the public with access rights. Users can go through the list of most recently stolen works of art, as well as view recovered works.

Stolen Art Watch, Angel Takes Wrap With Six Years Jail Term

2011-12-28T15:00:00.003Z

Art thief to get six years

When police arrested a Medford carpenter in the spring for taking up to $600,000 in artwork from upscale houses across the East End last winter, few thought he was acting on his own. He was accused of taking 30 works of art and other valuables from homes in Southold, Shelter Island, Southampton and East Hampton during this past January and February.

He was employed by a painting contractor on the North Fork and was a carpenter on Shelter Island.

“Nobody believes that this defendant was working by himself,” Suffolk District Attorney Tom Spota said during a press conference announcing the arrest of 24-year-old Angel Palencia, who was indicted on multiple counts of felony burglary and one grand larceny charge. “He certainly wasn’t running around to houses in East Hampton and looking in windows.”

But in entering a guilty plea on all counts on November 15, Mr. Palencia insisted he had acted alone. He was sentenced on December 14 by County Court Judge Stephen Braslow to six years in prison and five years’ probation.

“It’s possible he did have help with it but there’s nothing we could confirm,” said Southold Town Police Detective Ned Grathwohl, who worked the case. “It could have been just him, but that seems unlikely.”

Mr. Palencia had worked at several of the homes from which art was stolen, police said. There was no evidence of forced entry at any of the burglarized homes and property owners said their windows had been locked and their alarms set. Police linked him to the thefts when a North Fork art dealer, whose name was never revealed, told police he had been contacted by Mr. Palencia, who offered to sell him several pieces. The dealer said he grew suspicious after learning that some of the art had been reported stolen in East Hampton.

While some questions remain unanswered, most of the art has been returned to its owners, the detective said.

Stolen Art Watch, Hepworth Reward Offer, Too Little Too Late, Unless !!

2011-12-23T20:22:00.002Z

Reward for Hepworth art stolen from Dulwich Park increased

Barbara Hepworth's granddaughter has increased a reward to £5,000 to find the sculpter's bronze artwork which was stolen from a south London park.

Dr Sophie Bowness said she hoped the money would help in the search for Two Forms (Divided Circle) sculpture.

The piece, insured for £500,000, had been in Dulwich Park since 1970. It was found cut from its plinth on Monday.

Southwark Council had offered a reward of £1,000. It is thought the artwork was stolen by scrap metal thieves.

Councillors have since urged the government to pass legislation to crack down on scrap metal theft.

'Much-loved' sculpture

Dr Bowness, a trustee of Barbara Hepworth's estate, said: "In support of Southwark Council's efforts to recover Barbara Hepworth's Two Forms (Divided Circle), the Hepworth Estate have offered to increase the reward for information to £5,000.

"This is a much-loved and irreplaceable bronze, and its position in Dulwich Park is one that Barbara herself particularly admired when she saw it in 1970."

A life-size bronze statue of former MP and social reformer Alfred Salter was also stolen from Southwark some time ago.

Southwark Council is carrying out a risk assessment of 165 pieces of public art and sculpture in its area and is also considering temporarily removing valuable pieces or installing CCTV to monitor them.

The leaders of the Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat groups on the council have written to Prime Minister David Cameron asking him to bring in "tough" new laws.

In a statement, they said: "We believe there should be much tougher regulation of the industry including a ban on cash payments to sellers and a requirement that dealers keep a log of sellers' details."

Stolen Art Watch, Czech Mate As Filla's Found & Six Arrested

2011-12-19T15:01:00.002Z

Czech police found 4 stolen paintings by Czech cubist artist Emil Filla, arrest 6 suspects

PRAGUE — Czech police say they have found four valuable paintings by Czech cubist artist Emil Filla that were stolen last month from a northwestern gallery, and six suspects have been arrested in the case.

The paintings — "Still Life With a Fruit Basket and Clarinet," ''Woman with Picture Cards," ''Still Life with a Fruit Bowl" and "Blind Man" — were stolen Nov. 18 from the Peruc Chateau, which hosts a permanent exhibition of Filla's work.

Filla painted the pieces after the World War II when he spent several years at the place. He died in 1953.

The owners estimate their value at tens of millions of koruna (several million dollars).

Police declined to give more details Monday, citing an ongoing investigation.

Stolen Art Watch, Art Theft Aplenty

2011-12-14T16:01:00.005Z

Appeal after antiques stolen

http://www.derbyshiretimes.co.uk/news/local/appeal_after_antiques_stolen_1_4059554

POLICE investigating the theft of paintings and antiques are asking the public to be vigilant and tell officers if they see the items for sale.

A house in the Hope Valley was broken into some time between 5.15pm and 8.10pm on Tuesday, December 6.

The burglar took silverware, including Victorian dishes, six goblets with a gold trim around the top and a pair of candlesticks. They also took an antique silver cake basket and a three piece tea set, dated from around 1820.

Royal Crown Derby, a marble lion and a pair of bronze busts were stolen, along with two oil paintings.

Officers are urging anyone, particularly people in the antiques and fine art business, to contact police if they are offered items such as these for sale, or if they have information as to who may have stolen them.

The victim’s black 4x4 was taken and found abandoned in a field off the B6051 at Barlow the following day.

Thieves stole paintings following heist at Altrincham art gallery

http://www.messengernewspapers.co.uk/news/9416886.Thieves_stole_paintings_following_heist_at_Altrincham_art_gallery/

THIEVES stole £1,375 worth of artwork following a heist at a gallery in Altrincham.

The offenders broke into County Galleries, on Railway Street, and escaped with two paintings.

Painting one was a Huw Jones oil measuring 20 by 34 inches and was valued at £675.

The second was a Derek Eland painting measuring 24 by 28 inches and valued at £700.

Detective Constable David Stevenson, from Stretford CID, said: “It is likely the offenders will look to sell on the stolen paintings.

“If you have been approached with a view to buying any of this art, heard about someone selling these pictures or have any knowledge about this burglary please get in touch.”

County Galleries has been dealing in artwork for the past 30 years and has introduced a host of distinctive artisits and exhibits in that time.

The gallery building was recently awarded Grade II listed status by English Heritage. This means the Edwardian gothic structure can be celebrated as having exceptional architectural interest.

Stolen Art Watch, Paintings Pilfered

2011-12-10T13:38:00.006Z

High value painting stolen

POLICE are appealing for information after a high value oil painting was stolen from a lorry on the A1.

The artwork – called Le pont d’Lena by Tanislas Lepine – was taken from a vehicle parked overnight at Barnsdale Bar near Wentbridge on Monday.

The painting, which depicts a bridge in Paris, is in a guilt frame.

Historic Portrait Stolen

Thieves have stolen a 19th century painting from the Assembly House, donated by the family which stopped the iconic Georgian building falling into disrepair.

Top of Form

The painting of John Copeland, who had links to Henry Sexton, who refurbished the Theatre Street venue after the Second World War, was ripped from a wall last week.

Bottom of Form

The watercolour portrait, worth £700, was wrenched from the first floor corridor where it had hung for almost six years, between noon on Thursday, November 17 and noon on Friday, November 18.

John Copeland was the great-grandfather of Joan Sexton who was married to Henry’s son Eric. Eric and Joan donated the painting to the Assembly House in their will. The portrait, painted by an artist called W. Waite in 1826, is eight inches long and six inches wide.

Secretary of the Assembly House Trust, Michael King, said: “I was horrified but unfortunately it is a sign of the times.

“It has been a place of tranquillity for some time but now it is in the centre of a busy area. It doesn’t mean anything to any one else. It means far more to the establishment.”

Henry Sexton bought the building in 1938 and redeveloped it after the war.

In 1950 he presented the Assembly House to the city as an arts and social centre.

Stolen Art Watch, Hot Art Sends Joshua Knelman Uptown

2011-12-08T13:47:00.003Z

Inside the secret world of stolen art

Journalist Joshua Knelman delves into a much-mythologized realm of theft in his book, Hot Art

http://www.uptownmag.com/arts/paper-trails/Inside-the-secret-world-of-stolen-art-135197633.html

Imagine an art thief and whom do you picture? A wily and debonair connoisseur who steals masterpieces for his private delectation?

That’s what journalist Joshua Knelman had in mind when he followed up on a small art theft in Toronto, thinking of a real-life Pierce Brosnan admiring his ill-gotten Monet.

But after he spoke with some of the handful of detectives worldwide who are art-theft specialists, civilian experts on the subject and even a charismatic ex-thief, Knelman discovered the truth was far more interesting. Six years later, he’s published Hot Art: Chasing Thieves and Detectives through the Secret World of Stolen Art (Douglas & McIntyre).

Although thefts of works by Vermeer or Munch or Van Gogh get the international headlines, they form just a small part of one of the biggest black markets in the world.

"Famous artworks are about 5% of the art stolen," Knelman says. One of his contacts (a former thief) calls them the ‘headache cases’ because they’re so difficult to dispose of. Nonetheless, the money involved is staggering, even if no one knows the exact figure. And despite the millions of dollars involved, there are surprisingly few police officers investigating art theft, a speciality that requires an interest in art and a willingness to spend years on individual cases.

"There aren’t many people tracking art theft," Knelman says. "In Canada, we have an art-theft unit in Montreal, and there’s one in Los Angeles, but those are secondary art markets. There’s nothing in New York or Toronto.

"Every detective in the book says their main priority is recovery. Arrest is secondary," he adds. "They all think of it as an epic game of hide-and-seek, with recovery years later in a different country."

Knelman discovered that a lot of the art stolen from private homes, art dealers and museums eventually winds up in respectable galleries.

The criminal market for art relies on legitimate dealers, whether innocent or complicit. The art business deals in discretion and gentlemen’s agreements. One expert told Knelman that the art market reminded him of drug deals in East L.A. — no paper trail, just cash and personal relationships.

"It’s opaque, unregulated and completely interconnected with the black market, almost like Siamese twins," Knelman says. "It’s a transportation machine for art and money."

And what of Thomas Crown?

"It’s a beautiful myth," Knelman says. "It’s seductive. It plays to our romanticism. Anyone can sympathize with stealing things because they’re beautiful.

"That was the story I was hoping to write," he adds. "But the reality is so much more mysterious and complex. I started out writing a short piece and ended up overturning that myth."

Stolen Art Watch, Two Continents, Same Result, Art Stolen !!

2011-12-07T17:13:00.005Z

'Unknown' Czech art star's paintings stolen in daring heist

He may be one of the most sought-after painters you have never heard of, but Emil Filla's name is doing the rounds of newsrooms and international art-loss registers following an audacious theft of his works from a collection in the Czech Republic.

Four oil paintings by the Czech Cubist artist, who lived from 1882 until 1953, were stolen on November 18 from a collection at a castle in Peruc, northwest of Prague.

The works, which date from the 1920s to the 1940s, are estimated to be worth between 50 million and 80 million Czech crowns (approximately $2.6 million and $4.2 million) according to the Art Newspaper.

A spokesperson for the Art Loss Register, an international database of stolen and missing works of art and antiquities, confirmed the works were still registered as stolen on their database.

Chris Marinello, Executive Director and General Counsel of the Art Loss Register, said that if any of the paintings were offered to the register's subscribing auction houses, they would be notified immediately.

"Either they are recovered relatively quickly or they will go underground and won't resurface for years," he said.

The theft comes as interest in Filla's work is rising both in the Czech Republic and abroad.

In November, a painting by the artist dating from 1911 and entitled "Utesitel" ("Comforter" in English) was sold at an auction in Prague for 12 million Czech crowns (approximately $640,000), according to Galerie Art Praha, which staged the auction.

A spokesperson for the gallery told CNN Filla is undoubtedly "a major figure" in avant-garde European painting, having exhibited across Europe and even in the U.S. between World Wars I and II, but has not had much exposure over the last 50 years.

All that is changing, according to Czech art historian Vojtech Lahoda.

"Even though there are more collectors of Filla from the Czech Republic and Slovakia, there are more and more foreign collectors (interested in his work)," he said.

The reason may be down to his famous contemporaries, Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque and Guillaume Apollinaire, whom Filla knew when he lived in Paris before World War I and who inspired him to adopt their Cubist style.

According to Lahoda, his work presents "the other face of Cubism, something that is very parallel (to French Cubism) but also different," and therefore increasingly sought-after by collectors of work from that style and period.

"It's very difficult to buy the original Cubist works of Picasso and Braque from the 1910s but you can still buy Filla's works from those years," said Lahoda.

Though he cannot say whether the theft of Filla's paintings from the collection in Peruc is related to his recent upswing in popularity, Lahoda believes it may have been an opportunistic heist, with the thieves taking advantage of the collection's reportedly limited security.

"The Peruc case is a very strange one, because the paintings that were stolen are known, they were published in catalogs and journals, so I would say they are publicly unsellable," he said, echoing Marinello's fears they may go underground.

Works by the artist are currently on display as part of an exhibition on Czech Modernism at the Gallery of Visual Art in Ostrava, Czech Republic, entitled "Black Suns: Reverse Side of Modernity 1927--1945."

"If you want a good collection of Czech modern art from the 1920s and 30s, you can't miss (Filla)," said Lahoda.

FBI Seeks Rare Tortoiseshell & Silver Box Stolen From Private Residence

Agents from the Boston field office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) are trying to recover a rare antique tortoiseshell and silver box that was stolen from a private US residence in August 2011.

The Seventeenth Century Dutch tortoiseshell box features a barrel-shaped top, silver fittings, hinges and handles on its sides, as well as ball and claw feet. The piece exhibits a warm brown tortoiseshell veneer, sterling silver fittings and red velvet lining. Deemed to be of museum quality with original silver key inside, the box has a silver lock plate decorated with standing lions on either side. The back hinges and lock plates are surrounded by scrolled etchings in silver. It measures 7 inches high by 4¾–5 inches wide by 8¾ inches deep.

The stolen box can be identified by the following unique features: vertical cracks in the tortoiseshell veneer on the domed box top; similar vertical cracks on the back of the domed box top and around the lower body; evidence of repair to a water damage spot on the upper right of the domed box top; and three nails holding one leg in place.

This item has been reported to the FBI and is listed on the Art Loss Register (ALR) database of stolen artwork. The ALR is working in conjunction with the theft victim and authorities in seeking information on the current location of this rare and valuable piece.

Anyone who believes to have seen this item or has any information on its location can contact the FBI's Boston field office at 617-742-5533

Stolen Art Watch, Rhino Horn, Judges Heirlooms, All Fair Game

2011-12-06T18:24:00.006Z

Rhino horn thieves gas Paris museum guards

PARIS (AFP) - Thieves used stun gas to overpower guards before stealing a white rhinoceros horn from a museum in the heart of Paris Tuesday, in the latest of a string of heists targeting the rare ivory, the museum said.

Two people, backed by an accomplice, burst into the museum of hunting and nature in Paris historic Marais district at around 2:00 pm, neutralized the guards and made off with the horn of a rhino captured in South Africa in the 1980s.

The security guards were briefly treated for the effects of the stun gas.

European museums, zoos and auction rooms are on alert following a spike in robberies involving rhino horns, fuelled by an illegal trade towards Asia and the Middle East where a horn can fetch tens of thousands of euros.

The rhinos' ivory is ground up and used in traditional medicines for fevers, convulsions and as an aphrodisiac.

This year alone in France, horns were stolen from western Rouen in March and from central Blois and the western Island of Aix in July, in addition to a botched robbery in central Bourges.

Thoiry zoo west of Paris has put its three white rhinos under surveillance to protect them from poachers.

Elsewhere in Europe, two horns were stolen in recent months in Vienna, from a taxidermist and an auction room. In Lisbon police arrested two Australians with six horns in their luggage, while in Britain thieves stole two horns from the natural history museum in southern Tring -- which were, in fact, copies.

Sri-Lanka

Koswatta Police in the Marawila Police area yesterday produced a leading businessman who is alleged to have stolen several millions worth of antiques from a residence of a former Senior Supreme Court judge, before the Marawila Chief Magistrate and Additional District Judge Chandana Kalansuriya.

On an application by the Police the judge remanded the businessman, of Dankotuwa till December 15. Police informed court that they are conducting investigations to trace three more suspects who are alleged to have been involved in this racket.

They are from Matara, Pannala and Chilaw Police areas, the Police said.

Remanding the suspect the judge directed the Police to submit a comprehensive report in connection with the stolen items on the next date.

Stolen Art Watch, Joshua Knelman Addicted To "Hot Art "

2011-12-05T21:57:00.004Z

Art Theft: Not Such a Pretty Picture

Canadian journalist Josh Knelman spent over four years immersed in the world of international art theft for his new book 'Hot Art: Chasing Thieves and Detectives through the Secret World of Stolen Art'.

By Síle Cleary | December 5, 2011

http://www.torontostandard.com/culture-design/art-theft-not-such-a-pretty-picture

Art theft is fast becoming one of the most lucrative crimes in the world, so much so that Interpol and UNESCO now consider it the world’s fourth largest black market, trailing behind only drugs, money laundering and weaponry.

We talk to Joshua Knelman, award-winning investigative journalist and founding member of The Walrus magazine, about his new book Hot Art: Chasing Thieves and Detectives Through the Secret World of Stolen Art. A true crime story, Hot Art is the result of four years’ investigative work by Knelman into the world of international art theft.

How did you develop an interest in art theft? How did the idea for the book come about?
Hot Art began as a small story I was hoping to report on, focused on a local art gallery here in Toronto that had been burglarized. It turned into an international story, although that wasn’t what I had in mind. During the initial reporting, I began searching around Toronto for anyone with information about art theft. No one in the police force seemed to know very much about it. It all seemed very mysterious. I did, though, meet two people who changed my perspective, and pointed me in the right direction: one of them was a cultural lawyer—Bonnie Czegledi—and the other was a Toronto-based art thief. Though they were opposites in many ways, both of them encouraged me to look beyond the local gallery theft, to the bigger picture—the criminal interplay on the global level, and all the different ways in which the international black market in stolen art was exploding.

In Toronto, there was no unit that specialized in art theft investigations, even though there was, by all accounts, a lot of art being stolen from across the city. There was also no one at the RCMP level that seemed to have a lot of knowledge on this subject. So I began making phone calls and sending emails to the FBI, Scotland Yard, the LAPD, and also, a police unit in Montreal that was doing some groundbreaking work here in Canada. I also developed what turned out to be a three-and-a-half-year conversation with a very savvy former art thief in the UK.

Art crime, it turned out, can move from local to global in a heartbeat, so a piece stolen in
Toronto can be flown to Paris, London, or beyond in a matter of a day or two. This is a challenge for law enforcement, and an advantage for criminals. Toronto, by the way, is also a destination for stolen art. So, the story of art theft always seems to start local, but then the mystery involves following the story to any number of surprising destinations around the globe. Follow the breadcrumbs, remember to bring your passport.

Did your investigative work for the book require you to go undercover?
I never did go undercover, but a few of the sources in the book have a lot of undercover
experience. Tips I’ve heard a few times: be yourself, don’t stray too far from the truth, a sense of humour goes a long way. My research wasn’t so much about going undercover; it became a global manhunt for people with knowledge about how the black market worked. In some cases, it took months, sometimes a year, to earn the trust of a person, so it was a process of getting to know someone, and then meeting them. First phone calls, then travel: Cairo, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, London, or Brighton—the stomping grounds of the former art thief. Brighton is known for being a postcard-perfect resort town, but underneath the veneer, there’s a blueprint for how art theft evolved into an efficient international shadow industry. For me, the process of learning the story of art theft was less about going undercover, and more about being able to see what’s hiding right there in the open.

What was the most interesting discovery you made from your investigative
work?
There were a few discoveries, but the most interesting, for me, occurred over a period of many months where I’d be on the phone with say, Donald Hrycyk, head of the LAPD Art Theft Detail in the morning, and then have a two-hour conversation with Paul, the UK-based former art thief in the afternoon. These are two people who have never met, who live on different continents, but their stories started to match. They were both dedicated to their causes—and had very different goals—but they’d had to learn many of the same rules to do their jobs well. So, through these interviews, I began to perceive some larger criminal patterns that seemed to be occurring in different countries, and were linked.

It also became clear that whether you were a police officer, or a criminal entrepreneur,
once you understood that the art market was global, and completely unregulated, it was a
market that could be exploited. These two coming-of-age stories and the lessons learned in them—of the thief, and the detective—form the core of Hot Art.

What cities around the world would you consider to be art theft hot spots at
present, and why?
Big centres that draw in stolen art are: New York, London, Montreal, Toronto, Zurich, Los Angeles and Paris. Basically, follow the money, and look at the art market. Wherever there’s a big trade in legitimate art, there will be a trade in stolen art. The trick, again, is being able to figure out what objects are stolen. This can be tricky. When you zoom out, though, and look at the world, there are other answers to this question. For example, when Iraq was invaded, their national museum was heavily looted, but there were also over 10,000 archeological digs that were left unguarded. We’ll never know what’s been stolen from those sites. Recently, Libya was in turmoil. Again, there are so many historical sites and digs in that country, and it is certain that they have been looted—in fact, are currently being looted. Those stolen pieces then begin to move across national borders, and are eventually drawn to the list of cities above. In that sense, art theft an epic, global game of hide and seek.

Do you think art theft is a crime on the rise?
There is still so little information about art theft, but there are many indicators that it’s on the rise. Globalization, greed, and a lack of regulation mean that there’s a huge market to exploit, and to make money from. We’ve seen a lot of example of armed gangs running into museums, during daylight hours, and ripping works of genius off the walls, then screaming away in cars with a Picasso, or a Rembrandt. These are the most visible edges of the problem—“Headache Art,” a term coined by the former art thief. He calls it “Headache Art” because it’s high-profile, attracts the attention of police and the media, and gives everyone involved a headache. His advice: Don’t steal a Van Gogh.

But beyond the “Headache Art” cases, there are all the lesser-known stolen pieces, many of them taken from private collections—residences, houses, condos. This is happening all over the world, and tied to criminal organizations that are much more sophisticated than our local police forces. Yes, I would say that art theft is a crime on the rise, and right now, the thieves—at all levels—are winning.

Did you experience many incidents of art forgery in your research? Do you think that this is a growing phenomenon in the world of art crime?
Yes, every detective I interviewed had experience dealing with fakes and forgery cases. When I was in Los Angeles, and spent a few days with the LAPD, I had a chance to see some great forgeries up close. One of them was a Renoir, and it was absolutely stunning. And there are many different kinds of forgeries. For example, another case at the LAPD involved a stolen painting that had been replaced, in its original frame, with a fantastic photo-replica of the original work. It was months before the owner walked up to the painting, and ran her finger across the canvas, only to discover it was a photograph. That work was supposed to be an oil painting, but of course, her finger found only the smooth surface of the photo. The original painting has already been flown from LA to Sweden, and sold at an auction for over half a million dollars.

How does Toronto fare when it comes to cases of art theft?
Toronto is a great place to steal art, to sell stolen art, and to hide stolen art. It’s an hour’s flight from the world’s largest art market—New York, and there is no unit here to patrol the business. So, it’s a perfect city for an art thief to work, or use as a gateway city for the international market. In other words, Toronto is an excellent place to hide in the open.

Are there any plans to write a follow-up to Hot Art?
Well, I’ve started a few conversations, and am waiting to see what comes of them. There are a few stories out there I have my eye on, and as I’ve learned, you never know where they may lead.

Join senior editor of The Walrus, Rachel Giese, in conversation with Joshua Knelman about his new book, Hot Art, at Indigo Books, Manulife Centre on Thursday, December 8th at 7:00 pm.

Art Hostage

Stolen Art Watch, Art Crime, Out Of Africa

Thugs eye expensive art works

Stolen Art Watch, Murder, Manhatten & Minority Report, As Turner's Exposed In Contemporary Margate

Guards suspected in Goa's biggest robbery

Manhattan-Based Art Dealer Charged in Manhattan Federal Court with $4 Million Fraud

Turner and the Elements

Stolen Art Watch, Hot Picasso, Hot Art Sets Benchmark That Others Follow

Stolen Art Watch, Skylight Prelude As Silver Bounces Back

Thieves enter Olympia gallery through skylight, steal artwork

'Unbelievable,' says gallery owner

Deputy of the Year Recovered Antique Silver Worth $30K

Stolen French artwork to be repatriated

Thieves seeking silver, brass and lead prey on churches

Curbs on scrap metal dealers to be announced to stop theft epidemic

Scrap dealers are to be banned from accepting cash payments to stop the "epidemic" of metal thefts, ministers will announce this week.

Related Articles

Stolen Art Watch, Balkans (Stolen Art) Buy-Backs Attracts Art Loss Grifter's

Balkans targeted in hunt for stolen art

This is a prime opportunity for art recovery experts to retrieve works

Stolen Art Watch, Something Hot (Art) For The Weekend

Books: Hot Art, by Joshua Knelman

Treasures from the police stolen property room

Stolen Art Watch, When i-rish Eyes Are Smiling

Stolen Art Watch,300 Pieces Of Jewellery Taken In Glasgow Auctioneer Raid

More than 300 items of jewellery were stolen from McTear's safe

Jewellery worth £430,000 stolen from McTear's Auctioneers

Stolen Art Watch, Hot Art Goes Greek, Athens Picasso Purloined, Dick Ellis In Hot Pursuit

Chasing Hot Art

To catch an art thief

The Day 6 host talks to art crime expert Dick Ellis, Linked Below:

Beautiful collateral

Good to have a plan

No Bond villains

Stolen Art Watch, Graff Heist Re-Cut Yellow Diamond Tug Of War

Stolen Graff jewel turns up in Hong Kong

Graff robbery diamond turns up in Hong Kong pawn shop

Stolen Art Watch,Tinfoil Hats, Tin House, Hot Art, Coming Soon, March 2012 Acutally

Hot Art: Chasing Thieves and Detectives Through the Secret World of Stolen Art Coming Soon

Stolen Art Watch, Ruby Liberty Bell Heist, Send In Robert Wittman

Priceless ruby sculpture taken in theft

Liberty Bell likeness had been headed for museum

'It cost me a robbery'

The theft

Stolen Art Watch, Greek Picasso Stolen In Athens Museum Heist

Stolen Art Watch, New Year Around The World Of Stolen Art

A new breed of burglar is on the job In Bhutan

Turkey: Istanbul a Hub for Islamic Art Theft

Man admits drunken theft of valuable oil painting in Cheltenham

Antique lectern found after theft in August

Police release images of York antique theft suspects

Theft of paintings puzzles store owner

Stolen $80,000 cello returned to owner Kirsty Hunt after roadside theft

Antique treasures found at Coast Rockhampton

MORE METAL MISERY

Stolen Art Watch Magritte Recovery, Fact Or Fiction ?

Stolen Art Watch, Magritte Olympia Recovered

Stolen Art Watch, Hot Art, Hot Art, Addicted To Hot Art !!

Stolen Art Watch, Leonardo Da Vinci Madonna of the Yarnwinder Intoxicating As Ever !!

Leonardo Da Vinci mystery still to be solved after trial let-down, says art expert

Related Articles

The theft, the website and the sting, but no-one found guilty

Art review: Leonardo Da Vinci - Painter at the Court of Milan

Stolen masterpiece rivals the Mona Lisa

Lawyer arrested as £37m stolen Madonna painting is found by police

Stolen painting: lawyer among four charged with conspiracy to rob

Stolen Art Watch, Family Affair Under The Radar

Father and son in court over hidden treasures

Stolen Art Watch, From Russia With Lust

Russian art wanted by Interpol

Stolen Art Watch, Angel Takes Wrap With Six Years Jail Term

Art thief to get six years

Stolen Art Watch, Hepworth Reward Offer, Too Little Too Late, Unless !!

Reward for Hepworth art stolen from Dulwich Park increased

Stolen Art Watch, Czech Mate As Filla's Found & Six Arrested

Czech police found 4 stolen paintings by Czech cubist artist Emil Filla, arrest 6 suspects

Stolen Art Watch, Art Theft Aplenty

Appeal after antiques stolen

Thieves stole paintings following heist at Altrincham art gallery

Stolen Art Watch, Paintings Pilfered